Halo: The Liberation
by Uranium238
Summary: In the year 2555, Covenant Separatists and Humanity are united in an Alliance under treaty, ending all tensions between the Sangheili and humans.  An SOS was discovered that will lead the coalition on a historical mission to save the Huragok.


**The Liberation**

**Background**

The year is 2555. Two years after the Great War had ended, Human and Separatists of the Covenant are allied under the Armistice of Unity signed on Earth extending liberty and freedom from the Covenant Loyalists as well as providing strict protection over the species honoring it. A distress signal from a Covenant Loyalist ship coming out of slip space over the desolate planet Reach attracts the attention of an integrated Human and Sangheili crew on board the separatist ship 'Guardian of Truth'. What they find leads to one of the greatest pursuits of assistance toward a species since uniting both Humanity and Sangheili, saving the Huragok and those who wish to join the Alliance.

**Chapter 1: SOS**

Floating above the once green and blue planet of Reach, the crew of Separatist cruiser 'Guardian of Truth', observed the score marks and dark patches of the planet from the glassing years ago. Heads of the human crew tilted downward in rememberance and prayer of those who gave their lives in vain during the Fall of Reach while the Sangheili felt remorseful for the sins they had committed following false prophets.

A Sangheili minor approached a marine whose head was down staring out the window in the armory observing the devastation.

"For the sins my brotherhood have committed under the instruction of the prophets, I am sorry." The minor said. "We have come such a long ways since Reach. I hope our bonds among our crew still remain strong after such a tragic sight." The minor wasn't the tallest of the crew, but was tough, yet wise. He was one of the few onboard who truly accepted humanity and respected its cause. His name was I'lu Verondee, and so far the only minor on the ship to have slaughtered 3 Jiralhanae in melee combat.

"There are many of us on this ship that still will never forgive your race for what they have done. I am one of them; but after the wars in the past among our own race, we have forged ties and alliances with them that hold strong. We have done the same with our species, and it will continue as long as hate is isolated from our feelings." The marine was middle-aged and scarred. He had fought through both battles of New Mombasa, and was reassigned to the Battle of Installation 00. Those were the days where what once was never thought could happen; a Spartan and a Sangheili on the same side, same battlefield, defending both of their species from destruction through fanaticism. He shared a similar wisdom with his crewmember; but was reassigned to the armory after the left side of his face was burned by a plasma grenade blast.

"Corporal Joseph, I've come here to check my carbine in exchange for another. The charge lights are malfunctioning on the magazine and the power is low when discharging," I'lu said.

"Alright, I'll have one of the Unggoy's fix it and back to you in a couple of hours. Call me AJ, you know how long we've been friends for on here now! Don't gimme any of that protocol horsesh*t."

"Very well, AJ. Thank you as always. This rifle has had more problems than an Unggoy without a mouth trying to eat out of a food nipple," the minor snickered at his analogy.

As they turned around and walked away, the floor began to vibrate and shake as a bluish white light filled the room. A loud alarm rang throughout the ship as footsteps of Sangheili and Humans rang throughout the hallways.

"Battlestations! We have a Covenant ship off port exiting slipspace!" A Major yelled on the comm speakers; the two in the armory looked at eachother, grabbed a battle rifle and a carbine and remained on station awaiting boarding as crews flooded the armory gathering as much ammunition and magazines as possible.

On the bridge, two Sangheili majors monitoring the radios picked up a message.

"Captain Foster! Shipmaster Salume! we are receiving a distress signal from this Loyalist battle cruiser!" The major shouted. "We identify the ship as the 'Fist of Vengence.' Scanning shows that its crew are half dead and the hull has been severely compromised." A Huragok working on system maintenance whistled and purred with a low groan as it looked at the ship across the bridge. The shipmaster could see plasma scoring on the starboard side of the ship as it rolled right, struggling to maintain control in orbit. Smoke was pouring out the rear of the ship indicating its engines had taken damage as well.

"Prepare a boarding party. All groups heavily armed and with dual energy swords. We don't know what to expect."

Zealot Raz Wanorum was already in the hanger bay as the orders were given over the speakers. The golden armored elite assembled a crew of 24 composed of 10 Unggoy, 7 marines and 7 Sangheili including himself while two Phantoms were being readied for scramble. The force left 90 seconds later...

Back on the bridge, the Shipmaster viewed the ships dashing toward the cruiser. "Major, have Heavy and Curious slice into the cruiser's systems to open the shield doors and activate the energy barrier."

The major escorted the Huragok to the console as he began splitting his tentacles, accessing the touch screen at a rapid pace. In seconds, the shield door on the cruiser swings open and the barrier activates as the two Phantoms breach arrive within proximity of the ship.

The Phantoms land inside the 'Fist of Vengence' and begin deploying the boarding party. Troops rush out only to be greeted by corpses scattered throughout the hangar bay. Luminescent purple and blue blood was spattered along the walls and floors. Limbs of dead Unggoy and bodies of Huragok littered the area.

"What the hell happened here! This looks like a massacre! Someone did our job for us!" Private Ames said as he looked around the room shoving the butt of his assault rifle into his right shoulder as he cased the bay.

"Casualty count here is 18 sir! I knew this one! Him too! Friends during the war. Not friends anymore after. He like Jiralhanae over humans and great leaders! Not me! Zealot leader is my savior!" The Unggoy major nerviously stammered as he pointed to two bodies on the floor.

"Control yourself major!" The Zealot sternly spoke. "Watch the entrances to the hanger and split the groups! You 12 head toward the bridge and search the route along the way," he pointed to 3 Sangheili minors and majors, 4 Marines and 5 Unggoy. He pointed to 2 other Sangheili, 3 Unggoy, and 2 marines. "You 8 come with me. We will comb the crewquarters. The remainder of you guard the hangar and keep an eye out for Jiralhanae! This may be a trap!"

2 Unggoy, a Sangheili minor, and a marine corporal waited back in the hangar. This was the Corporal Bachman's first time out with an integrated group and didn't know how to coerce with his new comrades. He stood in silence looking around.

"Why are you so quiet human. What do you sense?" The major asked out of suspicion. The Corporal looked and shrugged as the elite clicked his jaws.

A tapping on the walls grew louder as ever 3 seconds passed by. Suddenly, A loud thud into a door followed by a squeal caused all 4 of them to turn around and point their weapons at the door. The grunts shook as they aimed their plasma guns squealing in fear.

The door slides open and a large purple sac covered in luminescent blue-purple blooed flies into the hangar tackling an Unggoy minor, squealing in agony as a dark shadow wielding a cannon with a bayonet followed behind through the door.

"BRUTE! OPEN FIRE!" The private shouted as he unloaded an entire magazine at the shadow. The Jiralhanae howled as bullets tore into the areas lacking armor. The Sangheili sprinted towards him discharging rapid amounts of white-blue hot plasma while activing her energy sword in her right hand. The minor ran the blade right into him nearly cutting him in half, sending blood all over the frame of the door.

"Traitorous ape. Back to your false beliefs you go!" The minor shouted. This young elite descended from the Vadum clan; a cousin of the famous Shipmaster Rtas Vadum. Her personality showed it. Zulaa Vadum had ambitiousness to reach Zealot before the end of her 3rd year in the Separatist Navy.

"Medic! Doctor Doctor! He hurt bad! Hole in sack!" An Unggoy major shouted as the Corporal ran over.

"He has a spiker round in him! Hand me a can of biofoam out of my back! I hope this works to seal it up or he's gonna die!" Bachman shouted as the Unggoy got back up, ran behind him to grab it. Slowly inserting the tip of the cannister into the wound barely plugged by the spike, he sprayed as he slowly pulled the spike toward him as the Huragok laid on the floor. "I got it! It's out and the foam is holding! Jesus I hope it doesn't pop out!" the collapsed sack on the Huragok slowly inflated and deflated repeatedly indicating a critical respiration.

The Huragok looped his head around to the left to stare at the marine and minor giving them a gurgled hum as blood oozed out of the bottom of its neck.

"Minor Mohab, help me get him to the ship. Major Duyab and Minor Vadam, cover us in case anymore come through that rat hole!" They each grabbed a tentacle while the marine gripped the metal frame containing the creature as they led him to the Phantom.

Comm chatter sounded from the group nearing the bridge. "Alpha group this is Bravo, you aren't gonna believe this! There are grunts and engineers everywhere! Some are alive, many wounded and dead," one of the Lance Corporals announced.

A Sangheili major continued on the comm, "Contact the 'Guardian of Truth'. We need to have them dock with the ship. We have captured two other Jiralhanae and have executed them."

"Understood. Alpha has cleared the crewquarters, none of the traitors are here with the exception of the three killed. The 'Fist of Vengence' appears to have been comandeered during a resupply and escaped a Loyalist station. Shipmaster, this is Raz Wanorum, we have cleared the ship. Many crew casualties reported."

"We will begin docking Raz, remain on station." The shipmaster replied.

As the two ships merged, more troops poured into the hangar followed by other entrances on the cruiser. The entire ship had been a bloodbath as more Unggoy and Huragok were found. Private Ames and Sangheili Major 'Sal Graduum of Bravo team walked over to a Huragok on the floor as the medical team arrived to treat the wounded. It was struggling with several collapsed sacks. The smell of methane filling the air indicating it will slowly expire soon. The major knelt down and placed it's tentacle in his hand as the Huragok slowly wrapped it around.

"Innocent one, I am sorry. We shall avenge those of you hurt and fallen today. May the forerunners accept you into paradise." The Huragok tilted his head up just to look at him one last time before laying back on the floor and shutting its six eyes, forever. 'Sal didn't believe that Huragok were alive enough to be accepted by the forerunners into the afterlife despite being created by them. He only hoped they did so he could see his friend once more upon his passage. The major stood back up and looked at Ames. "This one was a mechanic on my Banshee during the Battle of Installation 05. He was captured on High Charity during the schism and we were separated when attempting to flee from the mongrel coup. I was in debt to him his help and consciencous work."

"I am sorry," Ames said. "He is probably in a better place now than this."

As the walked away from the body as the medical team picked it up and placed it on a gravity gurney, a door slid open with two more Huragok hiding behind it. They were surprisingly unharmed.

"Hi. You're okay now. I don't know if you can understand me but we are here to help. You don't have to worry anymore; we will protect you." Ames said to the new beings on the bridge. He was rather puzzled on how to communicate. Somehow, he managed to succeed as the two Huragoks lit up in a light blue and began purring.

One of the Huragok began making signs; 'Sal immediately understood them as he learned from his recently deceased mechanic.

"He is telling us what happened.. Several of the Huragok and Unggoy decided to flee. Stole this ship to seek asylum at one of our alliance planets. They were attacked by a Loyalist Destroyer and boarded. The mongrels slaughtered most of them but were fought back by several brave Unggoy seeking death rather than torture under tyranny. They escaped into slipspace after he purged their Phantom from the hangar. He will tell us more when we get to a safer location"

"This ship... they wanted to desert the Covenant. Defectors. They were probably tired of the lies and suffering under those bastard brutes." Ames continued, "So many wounded just for the smallest taste of freedom... They will be looking for this ship."

Shipmaster Salum suddenly spoke on the comms, "All crew, evacuate the 'Fist of Vengence' it will be destroyed in its place. Evacuate all surviving crew immediately!"

The wounded and survivors were counted as they arrived at the Guardian. A total of 16 of the 70 Huragok survived, barely. The Unggoy weren't so lucky either with only 13 of 40 carried off the ship and treated for their wounds. The Separatists undocked from the cruiser and scuttled the ship with plasma, reducing it to rubble and incinerating the bodies with it. Prayers were heard on the ship by the crew in different religions. The second war was coming fast, and already innocents have been taken.

The 'Guardian of Truth' jumped to Sanghelios, homeworld of most of the Separatists, where humans were only vacationers, if not military. The Sangheili had great doctors, but were highly disrespected by the Sangheili society in favor of dying with honor.

**Chapter 2: Reflections and New Friends**

The cruiser landed in a large opening on the surface surrounded by prairies of green and tan foliage. It was like Earth, but with two moons above. AJ and I'lu watched as the wounded were carried by on gravity gurneys toward the field hospital on Sanghelios. They could hear them moaning and wimpering in pain. They stepped out of the armory and headed toward the infirmary while the Unggoy watched the shop. Along the way, they ran into Zealot Wanorum.

"Raz, what happened?" AJ asked.

"Several Unggoy helped some enslaved Huragok escape the Jiralhanae during a resupply, but were boarded and attacked. There were many dead, only 20 percent live to tell the story."

"Those mangy f**ks! Just like in New Mombasa! They killed you guys when you came in to stifle their invasion, and began murdering innocent civilians next! What I wouldn't give to wrap my hands around the skull of one of those brutes and gouge his damn eyes out!" He shouted.

The zealot nodded in agreement. "Follow me to the infirmary. We are to check up on our new allies."

The three walked toward the large room. The infirmary had streaks of luminescent blood on the floor. The moans were less resonant as pain killers were given to the Unggoy. I'lu and AJ walked over to the closest Huragok sitting on a gravity table. One of its tentacles was burned; soldered together by a plamsa rifle blast. It would never be able to repair anything with such speed again, but was lucky to have survived without more serious injury. A translator was attached on a metal collar on its neck. The noises it made expressed its sadness for inability to fix anything.

*Translator*

**I cannot fix anymore. I am sad. Why do I live still?**

I'lu spoke, "What is your name friend?"

**Rolling in Air. I work on navigation systems, but no more probably. My other arm burned. I cannot separate it. It hurt so bad. This make me sad**

AJ observed golden eyes of the minor began to glow with a light blue tinge as he growled in anger over its pain. The emotion soon carried into him as his eyes started to run while clenching his teeth. Further observation indicated the pink sacks showed bruising and small cuts. This Huragok was abused and tortured while performing its duty.

AJ stammered sympathetically, "Who did this to you? We have to know.."

**Sallarus. He my master. He always mean and hurt me. He wanted to kill all my brothers. He dislike us and have everyone hurt us before this happen. He not my master anymore. I don't have master, will you be my master? Need master or I have no reason to live.***

The minor and corporal looked at each other. They had heard of him before; back on 00. Surprisingly he escaped the Ark shortly after the Spartan and Arbiter fired the Halo. Sallarus was a wild animal. He was even reported of beating his own Jiralhanae for not getting his ways. He was second only to most of cruel of brutes, the deceased Tartarus. Even Truth had feared him for his personality.

AJ had an idea he decided to run by I'lu. He had always needed an apprentice for repairs an maintenance. The Unggoy were great but became lazy after a while. Most of the time I'lu was his number one visitor after befriending him on the 'Guardian'.

"What do you think of my new future employee? He may be a brainiac with nav and avionics, but maybe I can get him into guns!" The Huragok lifted it's head up at the thought of having a new master but tilted it down ward with a whimper at the fact it would be working on items that could injure.

I'lu had a perplexed look on his face. "How will you convince the shipmaster to allow this? He knows the Huragok have more use on the rest of the ships in the Separatist fleet. We need more help and these ships have seen the ravages of war. They are falling apart faster than the Huragok can fix them!"

"He has only one good arm. I'm sure he still has a lot of good use elsewhere but his speed may not be up to the shipmaster's standards. We have a lot of damaged weaponry in the back that he could help fix the electrics on. You and I are both aware that heavy weapons like spartan lasers and plasma cannons in working order are scarce. Hell he could fix that sh**ty carbine of yours too once and for all! I will talk to him about it this afternoon.."

Rolls in Air appeared less than satisfied still as firearms weren't exactly its forte. However, the idea of working with a new master, one that was unabusive brightened the blue glow of him.

I'lu pinched his jaws together in the form of a Sangheili smile. "I think it likes you. I will leave you too. Sa'al ask that I join him in the debrief. He says that I will be assigned to his squad momentarily."

"See you around I'lu. Don't let the Unggoy bite you in the ass!" AJ replied. Turning to the monitor next to the Huragok, the screen indicated in Sangheili script with a poor translation to English but easily understandable 'Time to heal 2 days once burn wounds cold off.'

"I guess I won't be seeing you for a few days. I really have to think about a better name for you because it's too damn long! How about Rolo?" AJ asked the engineer. It whistled in response with a slight pur and lifted its still good tentacle in acceptance to shake his hand; it was something the Huragok picked up in the past as a spectator of battle while hiding behind a destroyed Scorpion tank on the Ark with the need to fix it. AJ shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you soldier, see you in a few days." He walked away.

**Chapter 3: Three Days Later**

Talk ran about the crew who landed at Sanghelios to deliver the injured. The high ranked personnel of both species met behind closed doors under the highest of security. AJ had strayed too close to a Sangheili headquarters during RnR and was escorted away by two Ultra Sangheili.

"Be gone human! Your ears are not to be a meter within this meeting. You will hear your orders in a few days," one of them had said. Their white armor glistened from the two suns overhead. The infamous large and open-face helmet visually displayed their high rank among other warrior Sangheili. Thankfully they were allies or things could have gone really bad.

AJ nodded and walked away, looking forward to see his new counterpart. The shipmaster had given an uneasy approval to accepting a Huragok in the armory when many were needed to repair the damaged cruisers and destroyers returning from other systems battling Jiralhanae.

The meetings at the headquarters gave an uneasy aura in the atmosphere at the installation. Humans patrolling the base with Sangheili chattered amongst each other unsure of what was to come. The Sangheili who knew anything kept a tight lip about missions to come. The only way to find out what was going on were damaged ships arriving in droves. Separatist cruisers and destroyers with severe hull damage and wings blown off either crashed on the surface or made hard landings. All personnel available would rush to put the fires out and make repairs while the casualties were carried off either on gravity gurneys, or body bags.

I'lu responded to a crashed battle cruiser called the 'Dominant Faith'. Inside, he could find almost a duplicate situation of what had occurred days before, wounded Huragok and Unggoy. It was another defect gone wrong; this time, only 10 of the 250 crew actually walking away from the crash, 3 Huragok and 7 Unggoy. I'lu took a rescue party in 5 Phantoms to the crash site. Many of the crew coming were Huragok, almost similar to an EMT response. They were to repair and patch up other Huragok with whater spares could be used, whether it be parts from the 'Faith' or from themselves.

Things were becoming very clear to I'lu now why only the top Sangheili and UNSC were meeting; operations were taking place to protect defections while stealing ships for fleet strength. Rumors spread that the fleet grew by 150% in only three days since the Fleet of Retribution had been established. It had signaled to the Separatists that many Loyalists were clearly becoming tired of the Jiralhanae's rule. Many Unggoy, as fearful as they were, had the courage to steal capital ships and Phantoms to flee with Huragok and few paired Mgalekgolo seeking salvation with the new alliance.

I'lu ran into Raz after the recovery of the crew from the 'Dominant Faith' while eating at a makeshift mess hall set up by the UNSC in the form of a large tent. It was a rather odd experience for them both. They never ate human food, yet they enjoyed it. A Corporal had served them up steak and eggs with a side of indigenous fruit medley from Sanghelios. It was dinner to them, but breakfast to the humans despite it being dusk. AJ caught a glimpse of them both and joined them.

"Hey mind if I join you two? I'm due back to the infirmary soon to pick up my new pet so I thought I would grab a bite to eat." AJ said.

"Human, you are welcome. Come and sit," the golden Zealot replied. AJ sat next to I'lu while observing the rank of the officer across from him. He could tell he had seen many battles. Like the famous Fleetmaster Rtas Vadum, Raz was missing mandibles too, but only one of his on the upper right of his head. Raz caught his stare and smugged. "Is there something the matter? Why don't you take a picture it'll - err - what is that saying again... last longer!"

"Sorry sir; I met Fleetmaster Vadam before my crew integrated. Your wounds remind me of his. Wounded from a similar battle I am sure." AJ responded.

"No - the Fleetmaster had been injured dispatching his friend at the time he had been infected by flood. I was attacked by a hungry Kig-Yar sniper after hitting it with its own beam rifle While comandeering a Phantom with a few ODST on the Ark. Little basssstrrrard..err I think that is how you humans say it, decided to make a snack of me before I removed his head. WORT WORT WORT!"

AJ and I'lu laughed at the Zealot's story as they restrained themselves from choking on their t-bone steaks. They each had their own experiences to tell. I'lu had the nerve to finally ask AJ how he had received the scar on his face.

"What of your face AJ, what happened for you to carry your scar for life?" I'lu asked.

AJ proceeded, "It happened on the Ark as well like Raz's injury. We were storming a beachhead with two Separatist Phantoms and Pelicans. The Master Chief was tasked with deactivating one of the three shield towers on the Ark to stop Truth. We formed up at a rally point on the beach after we cleansed the area of Loyalists. I was riding gun on a Warthog as we passed through shield doors to a snowy terrain.

It was an instant change in climate from hot to cold. Brutes covered the small windy canyon. I unloaded on anything that looked like a monkey. We cleared the rocks and came to a large canyon where two Scarabs dropped in. We knew we were in for a hell of a fight. Hornets flew over us as I drove toward the one on my left, shooting the legs out from under it. The second Scarab went down and blew up from the inside. A hornet crashed head on into it while the Spartan ejected onto the top. We cheered from the hog carelessly and got what we deserved - a mouthful of hot fuel plasma that sent our Warthog crashing into the rocks. The ODST driving was blasted into ashes while his passenger was screaming with his left side limbs missing. I was on the ground dazed and confused when a barrage of blue plasma fire hit. One scored a direct hit on my shoulder with the splash effects burning my face. I could feel the skin on it melting and rolled into the snow to quell the pain and pass out from it.

We sure could have used you Sangheili in that encounter. The Arbiter had decided to keep them back to battle a Flood outbreak in the shield tower. Luckily, a Major from the group had found me after their battle during a damage assessment. I woke up on the 'Guardian of Truth' a day later only to find out I was over Earth and the battle over. We had won, and we made a few friends out of it. I have to go and get my new pet now. I'll catch you two later." AJ walked away, shaking at the restored memories of war he had experienced. He needed something for his nerves and headed back to his sleeping quarters to crack open a bottle of gin for a few sips. He would pass out, forgetting about his new friend awaiting him.

**Chapter 4: Hung Over and Back to Orbit**

A long, blue tentacle wrapped around a hand hanging from a bunk and began to move it up and down. No luck in waking the sleeping soldier. The bulbous pink creature whistled and purred, attracting the attention of Corporal Ames as he passed by the sleeping quarters.

"AJ! Your wife's here!" The private snickered after poking his through the door frame to shout at him.

AJ woke up and saw the Huragok still shaking his hand. It was still practicing greetings with humans after it had recovered and left the infirmary. He sat up and returned the shake.

"It's good to see you too." AJ said. Rolo purred and whistled acknowledging his greeting. It turned around to see I'lu standing behind. It was time for the 'Guardian of Truth' to return back into space and its patrol over Reach. The three of them departed the quarters with some gear.

On the way into the cruiser, the Huragok spun around in the air whistling in tranquility, a characteristic obviously relating to its name. As they inhaled their last breath before stepping into gravity lift the cruiser, I'lu began to miss Sanghelios and his family he was not able to see prior to departing. They would depart once again to Reach with two other ships that were patched up from the defections: the destroyer 'Salvation and Redemption' and the cruiser 'Intrepid Vanguard'.

The three Separatist ships joined the integrated fleet of nine ships over the planet. Something was different about this fleet besides human and former covenant collaborating together in an uneasy truce. A very large assault carrier, sister to the 'Shadow of Intent'. The 'Brothers of Vigilance', the newest assault carrier of the Separatists, would be leading the fleet while each ship carried heavy assault gear, as if preparing for an invasion. It was rumored that Lord Hood and the newly elected Separatist Sangheili Councilor 'Ruku 'Serpalon were present on the carrier, perhaps related to the meeting on the heavily guarded compound on Sanghelios.

Back in the armory while dealing with a splitting headache, AJ grumbled over the vast amount of non-functional carbines on the repair rack. It would be a long day yet again of repairs. The Unggoy pair assigned to AJ were bickering amongst themselves over the process to repair a Fuel Rod cannon belonging to a Mgalekgolo, and the new Huragok employee floating around exploring its new surroundings.

"Rolo, come here, I didn't hire you for nothing. You might know these things better than I do since you used to work with those who killed us with these rifles." AJ said. Rolo floated over and lifted a carbine to inspect it. A slight whimper gave AJ the impression that this engineer had no experience whatsoever with things that kill. Suddenly, his 'good' tentacle split into multiple cilia and began to dismantle it, separating the unusual upper and lower receivers. Whistling an chirping stimulated the translator attached to Rolo as it began to decipher the dialogue.

"The solenoid in this is defective; it too small to handle current of charge passing through. This need larger solenoid. I will make it larger now," Rolo explained through his translator. It made perfect sense to AJ. There is no way a Pelican could run on a Warthog battery, he thought.

The Huragok finished the repair and upgrade just as fast as it took the rifle apart. AJ picked it up and walked into the test room to test fire the rifle. He aimed the carbine at the wood silhouette and squeezed the trigger. A flash of a thick, green beam lept from the barrel and completely destroyed the wood into smoldering splinters.

"Good God! This thing shoots better than it did in the war!" AJ shouted. "Rolo you are a genius! I gotta buy you dinner tonight, if I knew what the hell you little guys ate!" The Huragok whistled in acceptance of the compliment behind.

More wooden targets fell from the ceiling and AJ continued to pulverize them with the carbine until the magazine turned red indicating the charge had exhausted. He walked over to the comm to call I'lu. The bluish glow of the Sangheili appeared holding a bag of chips.

"Yes AJ? What is it?" I'lu replied as he began to snack down on a handful of some of the best human snack food he had ever tasted.

"I'lu you have to see this. Our little Huragok is a genius! These carbines could probably burn holes through the legs of a Scarab now."

"I'll be right there.." I'lu's hologram disappeared. AJ turned around only to see parts flying around behind him and sparks. Rolo had entered into a frenzy to repair every carbine broken on the rack. He had never seen a Huragok enter into an obsessive-compulsive disorder. It had reminded him of a Warthog driver who actually waxed the flat camouflaged paint on his vehicle before ops. He snickered to himself in approval over his find in the infirmary.

Megud and Mohab were running around trying to clean parts up off the floor as they landed. AJ had always coached them on keeping his armory clean.

"This Huragok going to get us into trouble! He messy!" Megud ranted to Mohab.

Mohab slipped on a spare and landed on his method tank with a loud thud. "Agh! Fodder! Watch it with those parts!" He yelled at Rolo. The Unggoy got back up shaking his fist at the Huragok. It turned around, purred as it closed its six eyes, a sign of apology. Two large rods were laying on the ground. An idea suddenly sparked in mind of Mohab as he picked them up and held them in a V-shape to Megud. They walked over to Rolo and communicate with it the idea...

Minutes later, I'lu walked into the armory with two other Unggoy minors assigned to his unit, Dabab and Yabab. A rack of carbines once broken was emptied and now filled the completed shelf. I'lu picked one up and test fired it at targets.

"Impressive. It's twice as powerful than it was before. Thank your Huragok for me." I'lu said. AJ pulled another carbine off the shelf. This rifle had a bipod attached to it. He gestured Dabab and Yabab to come towards him as he extended the legs.

"Give this a try. My buddies here had an idea for a support/sniper type weapon and had my engineer put it together." AJ handed them the heavy rifle that took both minors to carry it over to the test room. Unggoy could never yield carbines into battle due to the weight. It would take two to carry what only 1 could fire. This had changed now that the Huragok incorporated a bipod on the rifle, which the two Unggoy proved instantly in the test room.

Dadab and Yabab were overjoyed, dancing around while the rifle rest on the bench. I'lu crossed is arms and nodded in approval as he looked at AJ. Things were already looking better for weaponry thanks to the new addition to the crew in the armory.

AJ told the Unggoy to take a break while he talked to I'lu about their discovery of the Huragok's talents. The Unggoy pair took Rolo out to a designated mess hall for food sealed in an atmposphere of methane. The new cruiser no longer used food nipples to nurture the Unggoy, but rather gave them the opportunity to finally eat real food as opposed to mind numbing sauce fed to them as if they were still infants.

Megud was about to open the door to enter with their new friend when a Marine grabbed has hand and shoved him to the deck. He appeared intoxicated, slurring and cursing.

"Damn you grunts. You are worthless.. I oughta beat you to slop.." The marine wobbled and slurred his words of shame. Megud would get back up an hide with Mohab behind Rolo. The Huragok looked in confusion, but suddenly realized the situation. He trembled in fear too.

"N-No please don't hurt us! We just helpers wise one!" Megud said muffled behind the Huragok.

The Marine pulled his pistol out and held it up in the air next to his face. "You covenant s**ts destroyed my race... And, here we now have to make friends with you. I won't. You are still my enemy and I must do what they told me to do with my enemy." The drunken soldier aimed his gun at the three.

Rolo knew exactly what to do and reached out his tentacle at the weapon. Grasping the gun, his tentacle split and began to pull the slide back, removing the chambered round while dropping the magazine out in a split second. The marine looked dumbfounded and lifted his left fist. The Huragok's head flew left as the soldier's fist impacted it. Rolo let out a huge shriek followed by a whimper. The Unggoy were hysterical, afraid to do anything.

"Stop hurting him. He just helper! Why are you mean?" Mohab yelled as the soldier continued to hit Rolo.

Both Unggoys were screaming for help only to have their call answered with multiple feet stomping around on the metal floor below them. Another soldier dove and tackled the drunken marine while a large figure clad in red armor herded the Unggoy and Huragok to the side. He turned around, let out a very audible growl and lit his energy sword. The drunken soldier screamed as he knew what the weapon was capable of even in his incapacitated state.

"Davis! Look here a**hole! I don't know how you got onto this ship or what your trip is, but these are OUR ALLIES, and these are OUR SOLDIERS! You will sh-" The marine could not finish his lecture as he was greeted with a fist to the face. His companion charged with his illuminated weapon and grabbed the his assailant by the neck, lifting him off the ground and into the bulkhead.

The Sangheili Major's mandibles opened as he growled with malicious intent to punish the incapacitated soldier for his actions, either by blade or by fear. "Human! I have spilt enough blood in my days, and I refuse to spill more. Do not bully my crew or the last thing you will see is my weapon pierce the flesh of your body!" The elite growled as he induced terror into the eyes of the marine. "Pvt Ames, are you well?"

Ames got back up and nodded his head, nose dripping blood. "He will be court-marshalled for this." He turned to the drunken soldier on the floor and continued, "I will make sure your CO hears about this and will make extra sure it is a Sangheili who decides your punishment after the court find you guilty for your hate crime."

A door slid open to reveal to MP's enter the hallway and repremand the marine. The smell of alcohol filled the air as he was escorted past the major and private.

"Thank you 'Sal," Ames said to the major, "it looks like some of us still cannot let go of the past."

"Ames, we must take this Huragok to sick bay," 'Sal turned to Ames while holding the battered Huragok. Two of the three eyes on its right side of the head were swollen and bleeding. Rolo was whimpering and hoverng low, clearly obvious the pain was resonating throughout its body.

"AJ will not like seeing his new friend back in the infirmary again." Ames saw the Unggoy running away, taking the hint obviously that the news needed to be revealed to AJ.

Minutes later, a fist smashed down on a metal kiosk followed by tools flying across the room. "Goddamnit! Why does that SOB keep doing stupid s**t like this?" AJ was yelling at the news Megud and Mohab brought to him as they appeared frightened by his actions.

"Sorry excellency! We could not do anything! He was going to kill us!" Mohab said. Megud was shrieking still at the thoughts of it.

"Come with me both of you. We are closing up shop early today.." AJ said as they walked out, shutting the blast door to the armory and locking it with the keypad displaying covenant characters.

**Chapter 5: "The Eleven"**

'Ntho Sraom couldn't help but stare at his metallic-white armor sitting in his cabinet. He had been promoted to Spec Ops commander thanks to the new Imperial Admiral, once a Spec Ops Commander himself, Rtas 'Vadum. He would share an identical armor to him now, save for the logo of an energy sword with wings. The symbol represented a new special operations unit of ten created which integrated only the best of the ODSTs with the best Spec Ops. The team consisted of three Sangheili Spec Ops, three ODSTs, and five fearless Unggoys. 'Ntho was one of them in addition to being the new Commander after standing alongside the Master Chief in battle on Installation 00 with his companion Usze 'Taham.

'Usze... Brother, you would not believe this even if you saw it,' 'Ntho thought to himself. Usze was promoted from Security officer to an honor guard after his heroic actions at Voi. He and 'Ntho held back the flood as the Chief and the Arbiter proceeded to the crash site of a hijacked cruiser infected by the parasite. The two had volunteered to protect and support the surviving marines in the structure close to the crash. He had saved a female marine's life when an infection form jumped on her burying its barbs into her in an effort to assimilate the human. Usze lept from a container past a barrier of sand bags onto the marine as she began to lose strength. He ripped the infection form off of her, held it in one hand while sticking a plasma grenade to its sack with the other. He released it and with a swift drop-kick, sent the flood form into a group of infection charging at 4 marines across the room frantically firing. The plasma charge took out the entire group. Usze and 'Ntho assisted in the extraction of 31 suriviving humans, including some human engineers onsite participating in fighting off a hunter pair and a brute Chieftain with the Master Chief and Arbiter. Their actions during the final battles of Earth and the Ark earned the highest commendations from both the UNSC and the Sangheili.

The two close warriors remained distant after the war due to their promotions and reassignments, but still maintained communication occasionally. Usze was wrapped up in providing key information on Jiralhanae positions and the surviving 'San Shyumm false prophets to the ONI while 'Ntho's Spec Ops team spearheaded any operations against the loyalists.

Now, 'Ntho's hard work paid off with his brief collaboration landing him the recent promotion. His most recent operation of infiltrating the moon of Sigma IV bought enough time for the surviving crew of the Fist of Vengence to enter slipspace, but at the cost of many. His team of Sangheili operatives, however, survived without a scratch despite harrassing the numerous loyalists stationed at the outpost while those within the ranks attempted to defect.

'Ntho's reflections were interrupted with a message from a holographic human figure on the table next to him.

"Lt. Commander Dare. What a surprise. How may I be of service today?" 'Ntho greeted.

"Commander 'Sraom, my apologies for disturbing your R&R. Your team is needed again for a special operation. Recently, you had assisted the 'Fist of Vengence' defect to the Separatist cause. I am sorry to hear of the many casualties at the cost of their freedom. Those who had perished at least died with liberty and freedom from the oppression of the Covenant.

Since your mission, multiple operatives had assisted in multiple defections and their journeys to Sanghelios. A new fleed is being assembled as a result of gaining more ships. Once fully repaired, the defecting ships will join a new fleet; a battle group that you had helped partake in the creation of: 'The Fleet of Liberation'. 'Ntho, I have collaborated with my superiors and with the newly appointed council of Sanghelios. We ask that you join the new fleet as a permanent reassignment for new special operations that will be conducted in the near future to liberate any other defectors from the Covenant. We are focusing on the many Engineers still slaves of the Jiralhanae. You know them as the Huragok, of course. The information they hold is crucial to the defeat and dissolution of the Loyalist Covenenant faction."

The young blond woman spoke professionally, and with a strong resolve. 'Ntho had vast respect for her and the bravery displayed during an operation in New Mombasa to secure a Huragok codenamed VERGIL. The curious creature had assimilated a malfunctioning AI to assist the ODST leave the city alive. Veronica was then appointed to interogate their new discovery, leading to her promotion after extracting the needed information about the Ark dig site.

"This sounds interesting, my group is ready to depart upon your orders," 'Ntho responded.

"Excellent." Dare replied. "You are to leave immediately. Your group of eleven is one of the toughest units we have in the alliance. And, Commander?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Take care of the Rookie. You two are very resourceful and crucial to those suffering out there seeking freedom from the prophets."

The hologram switched off. 'Ntho unlocked the air-tight case holding his new armor and began dressing.

A modified UNSC destroyer floated in space passing by a small asteroid field. Its hull was painted in a satin black. Cards smacked down on a purple crate laying on its side in the 'added hangar' of this UNSC Destroyer, named 'Archangel's Shadow'.

"Straight Flush! I win I win!" a metallic black armored Unggoy shouted as he proceeded to reach toward the middle of the table grabbing the treasures and currencies in the middle of it.

"I call BS on you Buyap!" an ODST snapped back as he couldn't believe his eyes. "Move that dinky paw you call a hand off your last card. I have to see it to believe it."

The Unggoy moved his hand. The cards read in red diamonds Ace, 2, 3, 4, 6.

"Dang it Buyap, that's a six of diamonds not a five! You called it wrong and that means you don't get s**t! Learn to play poker the right way!"

"It still a flush! All mine!" Buyap fired back. "By the way.. the jerk store called! They said they are all out of you!"

"Do you know how old that joke is? What else is in that methane tank your breathing?" The ODST said as the Unggoy laughed away.

"Crazy Unggoys.." Two Spec Ops elites said at the same time at the table. "We are out. We'll get the little squirt next time." Zuka 'Sutam and Val 'Mathun were in shock but accepted the fact they had lost half a brick of platinum and large blue sapphire jewel. The items from the past were priceless after over five hundred years, despite being recovered from rubble on Earth.

"Sooner or later he's going to lose at this game if we tighten the rules up on him," Zuka said.

"Leave it to a human to come up with a game that nobody else gets, especially an Unggoy that we saved from a towering parasite." Val replied as he turned his head toward the corner admiring the trophy he and his brother brought back from Voi. A gutted, stuffed and wax coated Tank Form flood stood in the corner of the hangar towering 10 feet tall with a large gaping whole where the infection form growing out of it used to exist. It was a small 'souvenir' from the crash site on Earth of the flood cruiser thanks to the technique of taxidermy learned from their human friend at the table, Clutch.

The noise from the poker table wasn't enough to wake an ODST slouched on the side a crate under their Pelican, sound asleep while another Spec Ops Unggoy laid on his belly above him on top of the heavy weapons held inside of it. The ODST had a habit for sleeping and, despite being in the service for almost three years, was still considered 'the Rookie'. His other drowsy teammate, Didab, knew him after the alliance was announced and stepped up to be one of the first Unggoy to shake the hand of a human.

The team's stealth-painted Pelican was unorthodox, much like their destroyer, which never contained a hangar in the blueprints. Mounted on the sides of the fuselage were two 40mm chaingun cannons to accompany the factory autocannon installed on the nose. It contained two large dorsal tail fins to increase maneuverability in atmosphere. It's cockpit seat was modified to accompany any species piloting the dropship. The bird even was equipped with an active camouflage system for stealth ops and insertions. Two Huragok were outside of the deployment bay patching up a score mark on the door from a fuel rod burst on the last operation. The Pelican was maintained flawlessly thanks to the two clever creatures working on it.

Inside, Spec Ops Unggoy Rakrak sat in the pilot seat, sucking on the straw attached to his mask with the other end submerged in a bottle of beer while his feet were propped on the controls. The Unggoy was small for his size, but wasn't to be underestimated. He fought on Delta Halo and the Ark as if he were born of Sangheili blood rather than his species. Rakrak was known amongst the Separatists as the only Unggoy to use a Sangheili energy sword to take down a loyalist Mgalekgolo, albeit throwing it at its back.

The last three of the crew remained away from the action in the hangar, piloting the destroyer and programming slipspace coordinates in received from the ONI agent, Dare. Among the Eleven, they were the most serious at their jobs.

A gray haired man in an ODST uniform sat in pilot's chair with an old Unggoy copilot next to him. Briggs had seen it all, as did his copilot, Tatak. The two had known each other since the Great Schism. Briggs had been in a prison cell on High Charity when the Flood contaminated the large city. As the situation degraded fast when all species were fighting amongst themselves as well as with the Flood, an Unggoy was evacuating his family of three. Tatak with his mate and two children heard screams of help from the prison. The Unggoy knew it was no way to go, to be consumed by the Flood taking over. They released Briggs from his cell and made a truce until they fled the city, crunched in a Seraph. Since then, Tatak formed a bond with the ODST as he had protected his family from numerous infection forms with only a plasma pistol as they advanced towards their escape vessel that fateful day.

Navigation and weapons officer Hapip stared at his terminal, locking in the coordinates where Reach was at to rendezvous with the fleet being assembled there. He still wore his tattered major suit. Though he never saw action during the war, Hapip was recruited into the spec ops unit for his talent: search & destroy. The Unggoy had a sixth sense that would predict the enemy's movement in orbit as well as the precision to pulverize it with any ship's weapon systems. Clutch had nicknamed him 'Bullseye' for his marksmanship with the MAC guns and Archers.

"Reach is locked into the system, we can begin slipspace Captain Briggs," Hapip reported to the ODST pilot.

"Thanks Hapip." Briggs opened up the comm, "Alright peckerwoods prepare for slipspace and lock your asses down!"

A large blast of light opened up in front of the ship as the destroyer cruised into it. Suddenly, it was nothing but empty space again.

**Chapter 6: The Fleet of Liberation**

"It will be just fine Corporal; though this Huragok will have some bruising and the swelling of his eyes may hinder his duties at your post. It will be fully recovered in three days precisely. He will be released to you today." The Huragok's translator deciphered the purrs and whistles it made as it explained to AJ the damages sustained from the altercation to Rolo. Some Huragok had adapted in a strange way to express unusual talents of assisting the injured and becoming the fleet's doctors in addition to the crew of Sangheili and Humans working in the infirmary. Their presence was welcome as the Huragok's talents in surgery were stellar.

"Thank you.." AJ replied as he was stroking Rolo's head as if it were his pet. "Well my friend, you just can't seem to keep yourself out of trouble. The fleetmaster will be happy to hear of the work you did in the armory but will be pretty pissed off you can't do more of it for a little bit of time."

Rolo purred as the Corporal shared a conversation with him. There was no translator to help AJ figure out what it was saying, but he figured out that his counterpart felt more secure with his presence. The two journeyed back toward their crew quarters. AJ had a small little surprise for his Huragok. Tips of favorite flavors for the odd creatures provided by his Unggoy friends gave him an idea of what to present it with: orange juice and refried black beans to support respiratory function and methane development.

A slipspace rupture opened up above the 'Brothers of Vigilance' revealing a UNSC destroyer clad in satin black paint. It was barely visible with the exception of the lights on inside the ship luminating from the windows on the bridge.

"Hailing the Archangel's Shadow, the is the assault carrier 'Brothers of Vigilance'. We have you on our screen, please descend from orbit dock on the port side of the ship," the Sangheili Major operating the comm squawked to the new vessel in the system.

"Hello 'Vigilance', this is Captain Briggs. Request confirmed; we will begin the docking process immediately. See you in a few." A shout of cheer from an Unggoy could be heard in the background as Hapip expressed his excitement of looking forward to seeing any old friends possibly reassigned to the new fleet.

Raz and 3 Sangheili Ultras stood at the plasma field barrier retaining the oxygen supply at the docking station. They had traveled to the carrier to resupply prior to returning but volunteered to stay as the greeting party for the 'Eleven'. The collar extended out to the UNSC destroyer and locked. The Zealot Fieldmaster could see a light and figures begin walking towards him. The greeting party stood at attention with their right fists pounding on their armor. Ntho was the first to walk through followed by a human major in his ODST armor. He wore his new white armor with a smile and confidence.

"Commander 'Sraom! What an honor to have your presence on this ship. Congratulations on your promotion by the Imperial Admiral and the Lt. Commander of ONI," Raz greeted.

"Thank you brother. It has been a long time. I am honored to be in your presence as well." He turned to look at the Ultras. "And you three, look at you. All grown up." Ntho worked with the Ultras before, when they were Minors on the Ark. The humans even dubbed them 'The Minors' due to their experience and 'loose cannon' ideology with hefty recklessness. In fact, most humans still knew them by that name, rather than their real names: Fal 'Mortham, Ikel 'Ithum, and one of the few females in the service, Nala 'Moram.

"Fellow warrior it is a blessing to see you too. We three have progressed since we last saw you." Nala responded to Ntho.

"Please meet my crew," Ntho turned to the tall ODST behind him. "This is Major Curtis May. He is known by the short name 'Clutch' and descends from a lineage where his ancestor once fought in one of the great wars of the 20th century."

Clutch thrust his right arm up at full attention to present his salute. The Sangheilis returned the salute in their military form. "Pleased to meet you! Here comes the rest of the bandwagon." He turned to see Rakrak and Buyap following behind with the other two Sangheilis Zuka and Val, who was carrying his second favorite weapon on his back, a gravity hammer. Captain Briggs and Tatak were the last to exit. Immediately, Ntho took notice of the missing.

"Where is Didab and the Rookie? The lazy bastards are still dreaming of glory and... how do you say it again? Guns..and Glory.." Ntho trailed trying to remember that infamous human phrase.

"I will get them sir." Tatak ran back into the ship. He found them still in the same spot, out cold and snoring with no awareness they had docked. Frustrated, the Unggoy grabbed a discharged plasma pistol from a crate and threw it at the two. The loud clank against the metal crank sprang the Rookie alive as he swung his head left and right while the Unggoy shrieked and rolled off the container onto his face.

"Wake up! Let's go! The smell of a food nipple full of beer and meat paste couldn't wake you two up!

The Rookie lifted his right hand up, presenting an obscene gesture to Taktak as Didab did the same. Tatak shook his head "New guys..." and walked away.

The crew finished up their greetings and then proceeded to the bridge with Raz to meet with the fleetmaster. Ntho and Briggs would present the news to the short Sangheili, Sosa 'Amim. Sosa was a mere 6'9", the shortest of his kind. Nevertheless, he had an iron will and a resolve that even his entire crew of humans and Sangheili combined feared. However, he was very close to all of them and offered rewards and promotions to even the smallest tasks completed he noticed.

The entire compliment on the bridge was greeted with a surprise as a door slid open presenting a human clad in white and a tall figure in the same color walking out of the battle room.

"Attention on Deck! Now! Lord Hood and Councilor Ruku 'Serpalon!" A Marine shouted as everyone turned and stood at attention with a salute. Four honor guard Sangheili followed them onto the bridge with two Huragok.

"At ease soldiers," Lord Hood said. "Councilor 'Serpalon and I are here after collaborating with ONI and the Sangheili intelligence agency 'Brotherhood of Premonition'."

Ruku turned to an Unggoy communications officer and signaled him to open up the comss to the entire fleet. Fifteen ships overall would be listening in. All personnel from Huragok to Humans and Sangheili listened and watched the holograms of the Lord of the UNSC and the Councilor of the Sangheili Republic begin their speech onboard the 'Brothers of Vigilance'.

Councilor Ruku began first.

"Our United Alliance of Races is young. We still have much progress to solidify our truce and to unite Mankind and Sangheili in harmony. Our races have been at war for over three decades, only for it to end after understanding the lies we Sangheili followed by false prophets obsessed with fundamentalism and a 'Great Journey.' While it is difficult to forgive and move on, we can only hope the little bonds forged grow and remain strong through the tests of time and that peace between us will be everlasting.

Today, we, the races of Sangheili, Humanity, Legkolo, and Unggoy shall once again join in battle not for our lives, but for the sake of others, a species created by the Forerunners and exploited by the once existing Covenant we once belonged to. We know them as the Huragok. Recent events brought several wounded to us as part of a mass defection. The Office of Naval Intelligence and our Brotherhood of Premonition have collaborated in a joint effort to support the defections with special operatives. Lord Hood, please do the honors.."

Lord Hood turned to the crew on the bridge and the camera absorbing their presence to convert it to a holographic image where it spread throughout the fleet.

"Thank you Councilor; The ONI and BOP have recently assigned us a Special Operations team known as the 'Eleven'. Commander Ntho 'Sraom has been assigned to us and has offered his services and the skills of his team to assist us in our mission to liberate as many Huragok and other species of former Covenant Loyalists who wish to defect. We feel that our new friends will present us with invaluable intelligence of Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar activities within this galaxy and how to supress their continuous rise to power in order to prevent a second full-scale war with the Covenant."

Ntho and his group turned to the two leaders and saluted. "Fellow leaders, we shall do everything within our power to lead us to success on this quest for liberation. My team and I are ready for orders immediately. We will strike the Loyalists deep while freeing our new friends."

Captain Briggs continued, "With our joint efforts and alliance, we are guaranteed success on any difficult tasks we undertake. All in this fleet as well as around the system united under the same cause will flourish with new ties while strengthening our existing ones."

Lord Hood nodded. "We thank you and everyone in this alliance for their services and sacrifice for our existence throughout time. Councilor 'Serpalon and I, on behalf of the alliance wish to christen a new fleet today. A fleet that combines our resolve, existence and harmony in one small presence, but a large symbol of our United Alliance of Races. It will show that we will not let those down who wish to join us, and that their blood spilt will not be in vain, but their their freedom and their generations to come!"

The Councilor took a step forward, gleaming white armor with his large headpiece identifying his position of power over the Separatists. In a powerful voice he concluded,

"Today, our fleet of fifteen ships of combined militaries will be known as the Fleet of Liberation, and forever after! we shall march onward from one star system to the next, besting our enemies and liberating others during our intrepid endeavor!"

Shouts and cheers grew in a large, audible outbursts through all ships in the fleet and could almost be heard through out the space the fleet traveled through. It was once again a great day for the slow but steady improving relationship between the former Covenant members and Humanity. United for the purpose of existence and the pursuit of freedom, they began their journey to vanquish the Loyalist forces and free those oppressed by them.

An unusual tune was hummed by the 'Eleven' as they walked through the halls of the carrier toward a large war room. In various tones due to their voice frequencies, it was the equivalent to nails on a chaulkboard, yet their tune worked in fostering their confidence as well as others as they heard it. Captain Briggs began it when humming and old song known by the military of the United States in the past era of humanity as "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" as the ODSTs, Sangheili and Unggoy Spec Ops followed behind him joining the hymn. Endless racks of weapons, from magnums to fuel rod cannons that were once filled began to be emptied. Soldiers running toward their rallying locations on the ships in the fleet. Others hearing the hymn on the 'Brothers of Vigilance' would join in on the tune as batallions of Separatists and Humans assembled in the hangar, armed to teeth, all humming the same song. It was a powerful moment as those marines and ODSTs who were familiar with the tune had watery eyes. Standing shoulder to shoulder, clad in high visibility and low visibility armor, Human, Sangheili and Unggoy ready for their next challenge with the weapons needed for the job.

It was once again time to go to war; once again united...

**Chapter 7: Operation Freedom Dawn**

Rolo's injuries never kept him away from his work during the three days of recovery. He stayed with AJ in the armory and pushed him out of the way on several occasions to take over on maintenance and repairs. The Corporal would welcome his ambition to continue working. The orders and speech given by Lord Hood and Councilor Ruku even emboldened him to get back into war, but his services would be dedicated to ensuring all weaponry for the battlefield remained perfectly functional. Megud and Mohab were working in the service bay on the vehicles there. They adopted AJ's nickname 'the garage' for the vast amount of vehicles combined from each of the militaries. The two Unggoy favored working on the Warthogs over the Ghosts. He even caught them once in the driver seat and on the gun of one playing like six year old kids.

Back on the carrier, Lord Hood and Councilor Ruku met with the top officers of all races in the battle room to give intel on their first offensive. All conversations in the room quieted as the top Sangheili and Human began their briefing.

The Councilor opened up,

"Our first mission of the Freedom Dawn campaign is to clear the moons and planets of the Athenos system. It is a small system with only two planets and three moons populated with the rest of the system uninhabitable due to their extreme climates, and atmospheres. BOP has discovered Loyalists on these planets Athenos I and III, as well as on three moons orbiting them.

The three moons should be of importance. They are holding bases for Jiralhanae, or Brute equipment, and contain large quantities of Huragok to maintain them. Hitting the bases there to rescue them will dramatically reduce their abilities to service their fleet in the system.

Commander 'Sraom has volunteered his team to infiltrate M-1901, the moon orbiting Athenos I. A Forerunner structure there consists of a large recharge station for the Huragok prior to being transported to the other bases. His team will take out the garrison there. Fieldmaster Raz will deploy with his team and capture any ships useful for evacuating the defectors there.

Once the moon is cleared, we will move onto the others and secure them. They will be used as forward operating bases to begin assaults on the planets to liberate any defectors and slaves there. We will exterminate any and all Jiralhanae in this system, quelling their screams with our feet, or by glassing them from existence!

Lord Hood will provide details on the fleet guarding the system."

Cheers rang throughout the room after Ruku's final comments. Lord Hood walked over to the hologram of the sector and pointed at the image.

"ONI has identified a fleet of six Covenant battle cruisers and three destroyers in the system. The biggest threat are those destroyers with the compliment of reinforcements that can be deployed to the surfaces we attack. These ships will be dealt with by the fleet. We will attempt to board and secure these destroyers once they are heavily damaged. They are to be captured and returned to Sanghelios for repairs until they are ready to be added on to our fleet. Shipmaster Dakr 'Ryum of the cruiser 'Scalded Blade' and Captain Jaye Wilks of the frigate 'Rampant Inferno' will be in charge of the forces boarding the ships and securing them. We expect resistance to be light, but stay on your toes. We don't expect the Brutes to do down easy. Give them hell and blow them back to the beginning of evolution.

Dismissed."

Orders began pouring through the comms of the fleet ships informing crews of the imminent operation as the ships turned course to their slipspace coordinates. AJ and I'lu were listening in on the communications as they saw a UNSC destroyer undock from the assault carrier carrying Lord Hood and Councilor Ruku departing the area. Another one left briefly after almost invisible as it blended in with the blackness of space. Ntho's team would be the first to arrive on scene, invisible to the enemy to begin harrassing the Jiralhanae on the moon.

"Looks like we get another chance to blow something up," AJ said to I'lu.

"Indeed. I will be joining Raz on the surface of that moon. It will be nice to see how this new carbine withstands the tests of battle." I'lu replied.

AJ pulled one of Rolo's masterpieces off the shelf and locked in a newly charged magazine. "Enjoy! Be sure to tell your squad to pick up theirs too. We have plenty to go around. Most of them were placed back into the armory and are probably all gone, so tell them to come here."

I'lu nodded and exited the armory. AJ turned around and walked into the garage to see the Huragok yet again applying its creativity to a Warthog. Somehow, Rolo and the Unggoy managed to attach a second Gauss cannon the turret in the back and reinforcing the armor of the vehicle. Mohab looked up after finishing welding a plate of armor to the new turret.

"Look AJ! Protects against backwards fire! No brute hurts anyone from behind!" Mohab jumped for joy as AJ walked over to inspect the new upgrades. No longer would crew have to turn the gun themselves, for his squad created a rotating turret operated by a plasma battery. This new updated Warthog was a marvel of both covenant and human technology together in one piece of machinery. The extra purple armor stood out though and badly needed to be painted to blend in with the rest of the vehicle. AJ complimented his crew's ideas and asked that they apply the same treatment to the remaining Warthogs in the bay. They would be useful on the surface when deployed.

The massed fleet disappeared in a bluish white flash, inbound for Athenos. The operation had already begun when the fleet arrived as communication came into 'Brothers of Vigilance' from Ntho's team. Their destroyer floated in orbit above M-1901 engaged in active camouflage.

Captain Briggs, Hapip and Tatak relayed the updates from the eight dropped to the surface,

"Fleetmaster Yali 'Kimorum, this is Captain Briggs. 'Archangel's Shadow' is on station. Forces have been deployed to the surface. We are still undetected save for the massive amount of ships that just popped upon the screen. The Jiralhanae are sh*tting themselves right now I bet! Ntho's group has taken out the sentries at moon outpost. They are proceeding inside the installation."

"Captain, communication is confirmed. We have contact with the enemy fleet. We are beginning our assault now. Be advised forces will deploy to the surface to assist you." Yali replied over the comm. The Sangheili had shrouded his face with an Ultra helmet painted completely white to match his armor, but to conceal the damage done to his face during the conflict on High Charity. He narrowly avoided getting 'stuck' with a plasma grenade which fused to the wall next to him. Surviving the blast heavily burned, he evacuated with the few remaining Sangheili honor guards and was promoted to his position at the end of the war.

"Acknowledged Fleetmaster." Briggs responded.

"Hapip, fire up the weapons systems and get me a target," Briggs turned to his Unggoy copilot.

"Captain, Jiralhanae Battle cruiser on our portside It looks like a nice target for your 'baby sun'." Hapip responded in a devious tone.

"Nice. Give 'em a ring at the front door."

A white flash flew past the bridge as an Archer missile sailed past them carrying a Shiva class nuclear warhead. The missile appeared almost out of nowhere as the ship still remained invisible, screaming toward the Brute ship. The Archer struck the shield and detonated. A bright white flash filled the immediate space followed by the sound of the explosion, rattling the small destroyer. A bright, yellow ring protruded from the ball of fire that vaporized the once threatening Jiralhanae cruiser at an matter disintegrating hundred million degrees, expanding outward, fading as it distanced itself further from the fireball.

"Target is nipple slush Captain," Hapip snickered.

"Good job soldier. Sun is out, it's time to play!" Briggs shouted.

**Chapter 8: Disturbing the Silence**

A quiet purple corrodor was immediately brought to life as the growls and stomping of a Brute Chieftain with his two companions resonated through it. Behind him followed two war Chieftains carrying fuel rod guns.

"Hurry to the war room! Instruct everyone to open fire on the ships in orbit from the surf-" the Chieftain was interrupted by loud clanking of metal on a blast door behind him. The three turned around and walked up to the door and pressed the switch to open it.

"Boo!" a small Unggoy shouted as he depressed the trigger on the large golden device propped on his right shoulder. A ball of green came flying out towards the Chieftain impacting him and exploding. The brute disintegrated and blew his war chieftains backward into the walls where they were greeted with death as their bodies settled to the floor, scorched and mangled still glowing green from the radioactive round.

Rakrak lowered his fuel rod cannon and admired his work only to be greeted with an ODST and a Sangheili circling the corner, de-activating their active camouflage.

"Damnit Rakrak I said quietly!" Clutch shouted. "I think you woke the whole base up with that one!"

"When has quietly really been 'us'?" Rakrak questioned back.

"Smart ass Unggoy," Val responded as he shook his head looking at the floor clenching his carbine. "Very well, let's proceed to the recharging stations ahead. Any Jiralhanae stand in our way, we will strike them down as if they were amateurs of war."

Rookie laid down on the ridge overlooking the recharging station. He could see Huragok floating around mindlessly with a Jiralhanae clad in blue directing them.

"Enemy at 675 meters, windspeed at 8 blowing north-northwest." Didab coordinated with the Rookie as he aimed his sniper rifle to accommodate the wind. He squeezed the trigger and discharged the explosive tipped round. A small flash could be seen through the distance followed by a figure falling to the ground. Didab looked through his binoculars to witness the carnage.

"His head fell off. Nice shot. Two Huragok near him are armed with bomb equipment. Need defusing," the Unggoy opened up his comm "Ntho, we have two Huragok at the recharge station that need bombs disarmed."

"Copy my friend, is the area clear?" Ntho responded questioning.

Two more round echoed the valley where the installation was located.

"Eh, it is now.." Didab replied as he turned toward the Rookie to receive a confidend nod from him.

"Good. Clutch and I will rendezvous with Team 1 with a defuser kit. Zuka is disabling the installations anti-air systems. Raz's team will arrive shortly in Phantoms to mop up the rest of the Jiralhanae. Thanks for the cover, out." Ntho turned off his comm and ran toward the recharge station with Clutch shrouded in active camouflage. Upon arriving they could see the two creatures there with the large apparatus affixed to them as other Huragok circled overhead. There at least fifty of the wonderous creatures at the station. Clutch coaxed one of the bomb-laden engineers over and began work on it. Ntho went to work on the other one.

They finished and turned around to look at eachother, both holding trigger solenoids to the plasma explosives. They simply threw them behind their backs and nodded. The remaining Huragok immediately caught on to their actions and realized the two were trying to help their companions. Three of them rushed toward each of the two still holding the equipment, slowly lifting off the explosives belts.

"Recharge station secure." Clutch responded over the communications. "Raz come in.."

A squadron consisting of nine Pelicans, six Spirits and nine Phantoms descended towards the surface from the two frigates and two cruisers who deployed them. Raz's team with a two squads of Marines and ODSTs prepared for their landing on the surface by flooding the short band frequency between the ships with laughter, jokes, and confident inspiring phrases filled with expletives.

Raz opened up his comm to respond to the Spec Ops contact. "Clutch, we read you. Be advised we will be there in three minutes. Sensors report that all outlying forces are converging on the recharge station. The Commanders of the cruisers have deployed two formations of Longswords and Banshees to provide close-air support."

"Copy Raz. We will be watching for fireworks from here. Out."

The roar of Longsword and Banshee aircraft tore through the sky overhead as they passed over the recharge station. Meanwhile, Zuka descended down from the air defense tower and roared with joy as he saw two break off to engage a Wraith closing on his position. Buyap remained in the tower attempting to hack into the battlenetwork in the installation to use it against the Jiralhanae. He signaled to his Sangheili Spec Ops comrade that the screen detected multiple contacts. Zuka activated his active camouflage as he headed towards a Jiralhanae officer accompanying small group of Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and two Ghosts patrolling.

"AGHH! ENEMIES!" A Loyalist Unggoy shouted from a Ghost as he caught a glimpse of two Longswords heading towards them. A brute walking with them looked up to see his airborne adversaries.

"Spread out! Don't give them a single target!" He looked up and shouted again, "WE WILL TEAR YOU INTO BLOODY RIBBONS!"

Before they coud spread out, the brute caught glimpse of a disruption in the air to his right. Suddently two strips of light opposing eachother flashed outward. He was greated with a decloaking silhouette of a grey-metallic armored Spec Ops Sangheili rushing towards him.

Zuka chopped through the yellow armored Jiralhanae and dashed toward the nearest Ghost, shoving one of his energy swords right into the propulsion system on the right wing of the Ghost. He pulled the sword out and dived out of the way as the Ghost exploded, throwing the unlucky Unggoy off and into the the tall grass. Next to him, he cut the feet of a Kig-Yar off followed by driving the sword in his left hand into the flapping body on the ground. Three down. He then turned to see two Unggoy tormenting their fellow Kig-Yar as he tried to hold his shield up to protect himself from the plasma fire. A third Unggoy came behind and knocked him out with the plasma pistol he wielded. Turning to Zuka the Unggoy minor started screaming.

"Look! We help you! Brutes and Kig-Yar stink! They treat us bad! We come with you!"

'Defectors!' The thought echoed in Zuka's head. He deactivated his energy swords and opened up the commm.

"Attention Longswords, this is Spec Ops Major Zuka 'Sutam, I have uncovered a squad of defectors who have assisted me in dispatching the remainder of their unit. This insurrectionist movement will be useful to us in the defense of the station. We will move immediately to the area. Please eliminate the Wraith in the -" he was interrupted with an explosion of the purple loyalist tank meters ahead of them as a missile from a Longsword slammed into it. "...nevermind. Give us cover to the station, out."

Two Longswords remained on station, orbiting over the installation. Suddenly four loyalist Banshees entered the area.

"Blue Devil 521 - contact four bandits! Bearing 090 at 15 miles." One of the Longswords reported over the comm.

"Blue Devil Leader, this is Ryu 'Coram of Gold team, my Banshees will take them," the voice of a Sangheili crackled in return as four Separatist Banshees broke altitude descending towards the four incoming enemies. Plasma bolts riddled the air as eight Banshees tangled over head.

Red plasma bolts from a loyalist Banshee smashed into one of the opposing forces, ripping the port wing off of it as it spun wildly out of control and into the ground. The first casualty of the air war belonged to the Sangheili. A second Banshee fell to a fuel rod strike, with its Brute pilot falling toward the solid earth below, a failed ejection. The score was returned evenly. It was now three versus three.

Ryu pulled a split S after destroying a second Loyalist banshee to see the third firing on the tail of his number three squad mate. The wingman lit his repulsur engines and flipped the banshee in a vertical position as it descended to complete a 180 degree rotation. The two Separatists opened up their cannons, blue plasma fire engulfing the Jiralhanae Banshee on offense quickly reducing it into a smoldering metal scrap as it fell to the surface, bit by bit.

The remaining two Jiralhanae attempted to shoot down the number four Sangheili in front of them. Plasma bolts flew through the air as the Sangheili jinked his banshee through the sky, then dove down closer to the surface. Descending nearly below tree top level through a clearing, he pulled up sharply stalling the banshee in mid-air before looping back down to see the two Brute fighters overshoot him, a perfect Cobra maneuver at a dangerously low altitude.

One of the Jiralhanae could not pull up in time, smashing his banshee into the ground, cartwheeling it into the forest ahead and ripping it into shreds with blue explosions of plasma raining out. The last remaining one would only find the Sangheili behind him he attempted to shoot down. Inside the Sangheili growled and depressed the trigger on his right flight stick followed by his left trigger. Plasma bolts reigned out and a burst of green radioactive fuel flew out from the Banshee impacting its adversary. The last Brute fighter exploded in mid-air as the Sangheili went screaming by the blast doing a barrel roll.

"Bandits clear! We have lost one of our brothers though. May he rest in peace with the Gods and Forerunners.." the pilot said in prayer over the comm.

Raz's team breached the atmosphere and descended toward the installation. A frigate also entered the atmosphere to drop in ODST Helljumpers, Hornets, and deployed six Scorpion tanks with parachutes before ascending back up into orbit over the planet.

Loyalist forces began to close in on the isntallation as the Separatists and UNSC forces exited the dropships.

Raz stood with newly appointed Brigadier General Thompson, clad in ODST armor on the battlefield, directing forces to counter the oncoming threat. An all out war ensued as plasma and bullets filled the air.

"All forces hold the line! Do not give them one inch!" Thompson shouted over the comm as he pulled the battle rifle off his back with his Raz on his right with a familiar looking carbine from AJ's armory. The duo opened fire on a group of Unggoy loyalists killing them instantly before directing their fire on a blue armored brute nearby.

Two Longswords overhead began strafing runs on two Wraiths attempting to flank forces dropped in from a Phantom and Pelican. Ames and 'Sal were among the group deployed as they began to take cover behind a rock formation to fire on Loyalists ahead in the horizon.

Not a second went by when a large body went flying backward and onto the ground with his mangled carbine landing nearby. The Sangheili was clad in blue with a spike in him, shouting in pain.

"I'lu!" Ames shouted, "Medic! Man down Man down!" He lifted his battle rifle and fired on two Brutes closing in, taking them out with headshots. Two Marines came over to work on I'lu as he began coughing blood up due to the spiker round embedded in his chest still glowing red. One of the marines extracted it while the other prepped the bio-foam can to fill the wound. Once again, I'lu was breathing as he rolled over on to get back up. Wiping the purple blood from his jaws, he pulled two plasma rifles off his leg clips and ran back into the fray. He would not go down like this, not without honor.

I'lu sprayed a group of Kig-Yar as they tried to use their shields to protect them. They fell due to the volley of blue bolts as they continued to render searing pain to the three Jackals. I'lu dropped one of his rifles, grabbed one and lifted it up overhead. His left arm released his second plasma rifle and made a fist. A purplish glow extracted out revealing an energy type dagger as he thrust it into the head of the Kig-Yar. His enemy fell dead after he released it. He turned around to see a brute minor rush him. Falling on his back, he managed to get one foot on the brute's chest, flipping him backwards. He came back around with one of his plasma rifles in hand off the ground, aiming it at his blood enemy's head discharging hot plasma to sear the fur to the Brute's head. The minor lay dead releasing its spiker.

"Revenge is mine, vermin." I'lu slurred as he got back up to join the battle. Twelve feet ahead of the Sangheili minor a mighty skirmish ensued as a Sangheili Major and Ultra attempted to take down a hammer-wielding Chieftain. Sadly, the Ultra made a fatal error causing him to receive a hit from the gravity hammer to his back while spinning around to deliver a blow with his energy sword. The body flew like a ragdoll away from the scene and the Major was left to fight. The Chieftain swiped with a closed fist across the face of the red-clad Sangheili knocking the warrior off balance before raising his hammer overhead. As the major turned to look up before receiving the life-ending blow, a plasma grenade suddenly stuck to the handle of the hammer.

"By the gods..." The major quickly rolled away and the grenade detonated sending the body of the brute chieftain into the soil, burned beyond recognition.

The Sangheili rose only to see I'lu there grabbing his chest. A feminine type voice cried out in the air.

"Thank you Minor. My name is Lula Verondee," the Major said, "and how do I repay the favor I owe you for saving my life."

I'lu's jaws opened up in shock. He saved a female Sangheili; one from his home state! Smitten with her beauty he dropped his plasma rifle and saluted her remembering she still ranked over him.

"It is but of a requirement of me to protect my superior officers. Come, let us continue the fight." I'lu replied. The two picked up their armaments, said a small prayer for their fallen Ultra warrior and re-entered the fight to join Ames not too far away wielding a two-tubed rocket launcher with two other female marines concentrating fire on a turret.

A rocket impacted the turret, sending the Unggoy operating it into the trees nearby. Score another kill for Ames as the two tubes smoked signaling the exhausted supply of projectiles. Ames turned and saw the two Sangheili behind him.

"Welcome to the threesome. I'm afraid we are all finished here." Ames said as the two females next to him blushed.

The minor and major smurked at the Private's inuendo. The group then moved to another area to join an Ultra with three minors battling another chieftain wielding a fuel rod gun with his subordinates.

As the noise of gunfire and plasma bursts slowly came to a halt, the last battle on the field was wrapping up as a united team of races took part in taking down the last war chieftain. The battle was short as the Ultra through his sword into the chest of the brute, causing it to fall to the ground dead. Suddenly, his other squadmates berserked and charged the group. The marines and Sangheili dropped their weapons and revealed their melee weapons. Knives, energy daggers and swords came out to stifle the last brutes. One female marine threw her knife into the head of a brute as she rushed with her teammate dual wielding magnums gunning down the unfortunate ape.

The last brute saw his fallen comrades and knelt down. Knowing that he failed he looked up at I'lu, "I have failed; I wish to join my brothers who have fallen."

"You will have your wish, my adversary." I'lu's left arm lit up revealing his energy dagger again. He thrust it into the back of the neck of the brute, executing him.

The battle was over; ashes fell from the sky along with parts of UNSC fighters and Banshees from the air battle over head. Casualties were incredibly minimal for the Separatists and UNSC. THe Loyalists were at a total loss and the moon fell to allied control.

A field hospital was established by the marines and began treating the injured. Several Unggoy were in the temporary structure, many defectors and deserters from the Loyalist cause only to join with new friends of the united races. Sangheili who were injured resisted treatment out of fear of dishonor. Human medics and Huragoks ignored their cursing and treated them still, lecturing them about their importance and living to fight another day. I'lu was one of them as he sat on an inspection slab as a medic Huragok healed his wounds. The new Major he met came by to check on him.

"Fellow warrior, how are you feeling?" Lula asked.

"I am well Major," I'lu responded as he sat back up to offer a salute.

She snickered. "You do not need to salute my presence when you are injured comrade. Instead get some rest, your honor still rests among us and especially me." She gave him a look that caused I'lu's hearts to beat furiously. The Huragok working on him looked at him turning its head to her, purring and whistling in confusion.

Eight Spec Ops roamed through the recharge station. The Rookie began to look at all the Huragok. One came down and began flailing its tentacle at him.

"It looks like it wants to shake your hand. Looks like you made a new friend you quiet bastard!" Clutch snickered as he looked at the odd-looking creature. The Rookie stuck his right hand out and grabbed the tentacle slowly and shook it up and down in a human gesture of greeting. The Huragok immediately whistled in delight of meeting a human.

Ntho and Val were taking a tally of the Huragok from the day's mission.

"212 Huragok saved today Commander. Quite a great day today," Val replied.

"Indeed. I also overheard we have Unggoy Loyalists that have defected to our cause. Our mighty forces grow once more." Ntho responded as he turned and smiled at Zuka who saluted him at the same moment Val did.

Two figures walked out side of the hospital toward the recharge station. The three Spec Ops Unggoy caught a glimpse of the Minor and Major Sangheili.

"Aha! Boy meets girl!" Rakrak said.

Buyap continued, "Indeed! This beats old holofilms!"

Suddenly, Didab began to sing, and the other two Unggoy followed, "Take my breath awaaaay... DUNN DUNN DUNN! DUN DUN DUN... DUN DUN DUN... Take my breath awaaaay..."

The song caused Clutch to spit out the bourbon he was trying to drink from his trusty, wartorn flask as Zuka, Val and Ntho looked at eachother in confusion, then to the Rookie, who shrugged and moved his shoulders up and down gesturing his laughter.

"What is this 'Take my breath away..' noise?" Ntho asked Clutch perplexed.

Clutch burst out in laughter, contained it and responded, "Crazy Unggoys got into my movie collection again..."

The three Sangheili still continued their perplexed grin.

"Remind me after this op is over to show you guys this old movie from the 20th, Top Gun..." Clutch said.

**Chapter 9: Zero G**

Fifteen alliance ships continued forward as a fleet of thirty Loyalist ships prepared themselves to battle off the incoming invaders. The odds were two to one, hardly anything to threaten the will of the Sangheili and humans on the offensive.

"All ships commence firing! Target the capital ships. All boarding parties, prepare for docking once the destroyers are disabled!" The golden clad Yali growled as he sat vigilant in his gravity chair. No less than twenty Longsword fighters flew by his bridge portside while thirty green painted Seraphs passed on his starboard.

"Shipmaster, this is Raptor flight 220, we will keep the little guys busy with Tiger and Knight flights. Checkmate flight will be carrying the heavy ordinance in case you need to blow anything big out of your way. We are engaging, out." The leader of the first Longsword flight reported after passing by the massive carrier.

Flashes began to appear, filling the darkness with light. Sounds of cannon fire and explosions interrupted the silence as fighters on both sides fell in the skirmish. Two Longswords streaked through space in a weaving maneuver, chasing down a Loyalist Seraph, filling the area around it with tracers. The Seraph was swirving wildly to avoid the cannon fire until a missile struck it from behind sending it spiraling out of control and exploding. The Brute pilot could be seen being ejected out into the airless space where he died of asphyxiation.

"Target down. engaging bandits on port side." Tiger 2 responded over the radio as he and his number three wingman broke for the next formation of Seraphs turning into them. The co-pilots of each craft locked multiple missiles onto the incoming enemies. Two missiles deployed from each uNSC craft, all scoring direct hits as the destroyed the Jiralhanae Seraphs in four large explosions. Unfortunately, the two Longswords made fatal errors as two Seraphs dove in behind firing their plasma cannons shredding the ships into molten metal.

"Tiger 2 and 3 are down. Fellow Sangheili, we will turn in and avenge there deaths!" A major announced as he and his wingman broke from their position and engaged the two Jiralhanae, destroying them before they even realized the Separatists were on top of them.

The fight continued, fighters battling fighters, scrap metal floating through the air telling who in the engagements were victors, and who were the victims. A cruiser burst into a blue explosion as a Shiva tipped Archer missile crashed into its hull. The Loyalist crew could not have survived the damage, let alone the radiation displaced from the blast. A Loyalist destroyer swerved away from its fellow fleet ship to avoid the debris and evade the the torpedoes launched at it.

The battle cruiser 'Guardian of Truth' fired a volley of plasma torpedos at the Loyalist ship in front of them, slowly degrading its shields as the crew within rushed to recharge the tubes. AJ and Rolo were rushing to the gunnery stations oboard their Separatist ship, towing plasma energy batteries to swap out the exhausted ones. Rolo had once again let its innovative mind get the best of it, offering an explosive surprise for those on the receiving end. The new batteries glowed and unusual orange tinge from the inspection glass.

"I would hate to be in one of those other cruisers right now. Let's see how they like our new cocktails Rolo." AJ said as he turned to Rolo who was floating by him. Rolo purred as they almost rammed a Sangheili in their way rushing down the pathway with their supplies.

"Watch it human! There's enough firepower there to even take out Yali's ship and the fleet!" The Minor yelled after jumping out of the way.

They had finally arrived. Bodies were scrambling around trying to balance themselves as the ship jinked to avoid the massive onslaught of fire from other Jiralhanae cruisers. AJ moved the cart to the first cannon in the room and its Sangheili operator.

"Major, load one these into your gun, but do not fire it until the other operators fire theirs," AJ said to the Sangheili.

"What are these? They do not glow like regular plasma." The Major weapons operator questioned.

"Trust me. You'll like this as well as the boarding party. Just make sure they shoot first before you do" AJ said as the Sangheili immediately understood the purpose of the ordnance.

"Very well human," the Sangheili replied, then turned to his fellow shipmates. "Everyone, fire a concentrated burst on the front of the at Loyalist destroyer to weaken the bow's shields. On your go men."

"FIRE!" Three Sangheili yelled at the same time as they had all discharged their tubes, deploying plasma torpedoes. The major fired his cannon with the new plasma round. The orange ball traveled fast through space, catching up to the other volley of rounds. The standard plasma torpedoes impacted the shields of the Covenant destroyer, causing it to surge with blue bolts resembling lightning branches. Suddenly, the new round impacted causing a massive flash all around the destroyer. The shields lowered and the engines powered off. The plasma burst had disabled the ship to a mere floating hunk of metal, harmless to the Separatists it had intended to destroy.

"Good shot! Target is disabled!" AJ yelled. The Sangheili raised their hands up in the air and growled in victory. However, their cheers were soon silenced as the comm blaired throughout the ship informing the crew that a UNSC Halcyon class cruiser had fallen to Loyalist plasma fire. All crew killed.

AJ shrugged his moment of silence and sadness off and got on the comm, "Shipmaster, this is Corporal Joseph, the weapons officers have disabled the destroyer in front of you. Looks like they can be boarded."

"Corporal, what are you doing at the gun stations and not the armory?" The Shipmaster asked?

"We had brought a new munition over to them. It was something the Huragok and I were working on. We didn't have time to test it until now."

"I don't know whether I should have you court martialed by the UNSC for putting my crew at risk with an untested weapon, or whether I should be happy that you have made our job easier. I choose the latter since you two obviously know more about the technology in weaponry over anyone else on the ship. Be sure that you two produce several more of these batteries for the rest of the fleet. We will need them as we steal their ships back!" Shipmaster Salume said over the comm while staring at Captain Foster nodding in approval.

"Shipmaster, we are sending out the boarders now to take that Destroyer. We will need some extra manpower for this. I am ordering the frigate 'Dauntless Justice' to assist this ship's party once we link up." Captain Foster said.

"Agreed. We will overrun them with manpower." The shipmaster concluded.

The frigate and battle cruiser docked on both sides of the disabled destroyer. Boarding crews from the separatist ships were met with plasma fire and spiker rounds as soon as the doors were breached. As the sides exchanged gunfire, the Jiralhanae at the door fell to an Ultra's assault team as he and his Sangheili minors pressed forward toward the bridge while the second time would cover their rear. Brutes running infront of the Ultra were cut down by his energy sword in one hand, and Rolo's new carbine in the other. Two shots bringing down the shield of their enemies, while his blade severed them in half. Loyalist Unggoy bearing witness would run in fear or drop their weapons, surrendering.

On the other side of the ship, UNSC Marines with another squad of Sangheili were fighting an uphill battle still at the door with a war chieftain and his blue-armored bodyguards. Marines fell as the chieftain fired scalding hot plasma from the large plasma cannon he yielded. One marine managed to grab a power drain from the other side and ran directly into the plasma fire. Ducking was the only option for him as he dove for the ground nine feet in front of him rolling the large ball between the brute's legs. The power drain lifted up off the ground, activated and illuminated the corrodor with a bright blue light, sucking the shield energy from the Jiralhanae holding the boarding party back. The Marine on the ground pulled out his magnum and fired one shot aiming at the mouth of the chieftain. The large creature fell backwards with a gaping hole in the back of its head.

As more and more bodies poured in from the airlocks, the remaining crew of the covenant ship faced off with a boarding party of 150 soldiers. The Jiralhanae force dwindled down as they were cut down along with their Unggoy subordinates by gunfire. A squad fought their way to the engine room where they engaged the Kig-Yar and Unggoy there. Four marines and a Sangheili minor accompanying them fell to carbine fire. The final blow to the remaining squad was left to a single Unggoy running towards them.

"Follow the light brothers and please enjoy my bright...blue...balls!" The Unggoy yelled glowing a luminescent blue from his arms.

"Holy sh*t, get out of here!" A marine yelled at his remaining unit of six as the suicidal grunt ran toward them. He pushed a Sangheili minor out through the door, pressed the closing button and ran toward the crazed Unggoy.

"How about a hug you little bastard!" He ran and shoved the small creature back as everything around him turned bright white. No pain. No feeling. No existence. The explosion blew the door completely off the locks and towards the five who were locked behind it. When the Minor and UNSC Seargant looked in the room, the Kig-yar were splattered all over the hull while the remaines of the Marine and Unggoy were non-existent. The Minor Sangheili saved dropped his dual plasma rifles and fell to the floor, screaming in fury and pain as his partner was disintegrated in the blast.

"Minor, I am sorry, he was a brave soldier and his relatives will receive his Medal of Honor for saving all of us. We must move and survey the damage to the engine room. If the engineers can't get the engines fixed, we may as well abandon this sh*tbox!" The Seargant exclaimed.

The crew of five were reinforced by two Sangheili Majors and two Minors equipped with gatling turrets. They secured the corrodor as two Huragok were deployed to repair the damage done to the engine room from the blast.

"Ultra Vad 'Kuzam, this is Sgt. Stone, report on your status." the Seargant called to the squad making their way up to the bridge.

"This is Vad, Seargant, we are wiping up the remaining forces on the bridge. Several Unggoy have defected to our cause and our repelling the Jiralhanae officers that commanded them. What is the situation in the engine room?"

"Engine room is damaged. Two engineers are working on the circuits disabled from the pulse that struck the ship. So far, no time estimate for repair."

"Very well. Once we secure the bridge we will begin repairs immediately on the systems. The ship's AI was probably destroyed as well when it was disabled. We will update you when we quiet these mongrels down. Out." The Ultra cut-off his comm and pulled the human designed shotgun off his back, cocking it. With a snarl he says, "Get some."

The Ultra sprints toward two Brute Minors in front of him, flipping the butt of his shotgun into the stomach of one. With the barrel lined up directly blow his chin, he squeezes the trigger, instantly dying his white helmet and upper torso in red. It's partner enters a berserker rage only to be stifled with a round of buckshot to the chest, causing him to fly backwards before falling limp.

The Minor and Major Sangheili immediately behind their Ultra line up behind him in an echelon-type formation as they march forward opening bridge blast doors, revealing a Jiralhanae chieftain with a gravity hammer.

The chieftain gives the trio of elites a smirk and growls. "So close... but yet... so far." Powering up his gravity hammer, the large Jiralhanae lunges toward the Ultra, swinging his hammer. The white armored elite dives right as his minor jumps in the air, activiating his energy dagger on his wrist armor. He tucks the blade between his legs and pierces it through the forehead of the chieftain only to be thrown off by the shield protecting him. The Major was next as he charges, but is knocked across the room by the hammer, crashing into two Unggoy running away from the fight.

The Major looks up as he sees his Ultra leader and his subordinate Minor attempting to stop a temporarily invincible brute. He looks to his left and sees an Unggoy Minor looking at him.

"John. Tell them. John." The little Minor says to the Major as his counter part nods and shrieks in agreement.

"Vad, Ryn, remember John!" The Major yells. The two Sangheili catch on fast, remembering a tactic that the Spartan taught them both about stopping a deranged brute chieftain. Walking backwards they each grab an energy grenade. They look at eachother, nod, then throw them at the chieftain spinning in a circle with his hammer growling in its sadistic euphoria. Suddenly, it's shield disappears and he realized that two plasma grenades found home on the unprotected sides just below his armpits. Detonation. A fragmented combination of burnt armor, blood and fur flies through the bridge as the chieftain is defeated once and for all. The Ultra and Minor turn to notice get back up and walk toward the controls. The Major across the room stands back up and helps the two Unggoy up.

"Are you surrendering? Or do I have to show the two of you which Forerunner is your guardian angel?" The Major growled as he maliciously stared at the two Unggoy Minors.

"We no surrender! We assist! Memeb here know how to fly! I know how to co-fly! Dadak and Memeb help Sangheili!" The Unggoy shrieked timidly.

"Very well. I am Major Adra 'Mozav, the Ultra is Vad 'Kuzam and our Minor Hep 'Hukumee."

"Please to meet you! We know you though! Used to be on the 'Glorious Epiphany' with you three! Chieftain Erebus took us during Schism and made us work his ship! We no like Erebus! He bad brute!"

The frantic excitement in Dadak's voice annoyed the Major, but he welcomed the two new allies.

"Do you have any Huragok on this ship that can get it working again?" The Major asked.

Memeb turned around, "Yes we do! They right there behind door! Old excellency lock them up in map room! He hate Huragok. He hate us too! We not good listeners."

The Ultra walked over to the door to the map room on the bridge and opened it. Two Huragok came out whistling in joy to be released from their temporary prison.

"Little ones, we need this destroyer working. Do what you do best, and don't let us down," Vad said. "Hep, get on the comm and let the Shipmaster know this bridge is secure."

The Minor opened up the comms to relay the good news while chatter poured in the opposite side notifying the small garrison that the entire destroyer was.

"What is the name of this ship that we now have control of Ultra?" Hep asked.

"The 'Blessed Cleanser' of the old Covenant. One of the ships that helped decimate the human world of Reach. And, now it's ours and we will redeem its repuation among humans.

The remaining ninety soldiers of the boarding party became the temporary crew of the newly comandeered destroyer as their ships they were once stationed on broke dock. It took thirty minutes to restore power and the engines to the ship as many of them watched in awe at the space battle occurring around them. Two Jiralhanae battle cruisers fell to combined fire from MAC guns and Plasma torpedoes by a UNSC cruiser 'Fire and Ice', and the Separatist cruiser 'Ardent Bliss', tag-teaming the ships commanded by Jiralhanae who were clueless about military strategy.

Not one alliance ship was lost during the engagement, while only two destroyers and four battle cruisers remained in Brute service guarding Athenos.

AJ and Rolo were once again scrambling around on the ship, this time to deliver their new firepower to other battle cruisers tasked with disabling the remaining two destroyers for capture. Rolo was leading the way to the Darter awaiting them in the hangar while AJ transported the batteries on pallets for loading into the vessel. After securing the cargo, the Corporal ran to the cockpit as Rolo floated around in the cargo hold with two marines hitching a ride.

"Looks like your master is going to show you how to deliver pizzas!" One of the marines said to the Huragok as Rolo looked at him perplexed. The large clamps lifted the Darter into the drop bay and locked it in place as the doors opened up below it. The securing latches hissed and the odd looking dropship fell from the bay, turning inbound to it's first customer, Separatist cruiser 'Ardent Bliss.'

AJ jumped on the comm, "Any UNSC or Separatist fighters acknowledge. We need escort to the cruiser. Keep those crazed apes off our back while we fly this green bathtub over to the 'Bliss!"

The Darter howled by as a Longsword and Seraph followed by barrel-rolling, still celebrating their last kills of entire formation of Brute Seraphs!

**Chapter 10: Not So Special Delivery**

"Fleetmaster 'Kimorum, this is Commander 'Sraom. M-1901 is secure. The UNSC and Separtists will remain here and guard the moon. We have located a cache of supplies and additional plasma should any ships need recharging and rearming while taking the installation. We have also captured another battle cruiser here for resupply. However, a battle cruiser just slipspaced in. I am requesting that I leave my team temporarily and head towards the Brute cruiser in the stratosphere above us."

"What for Commander?" Yali asked.

Ntho looked at the two Huragok and the suicide equipment formerly attached to them, sitting on the floor. Then, he glanced at a damaged Longsword that had made a hard landing, but still remained flyable.

"To give them back their bombs." He replied.

The Fleetmaster grinned. "Permission granted. An Ntho?"

"Yes brother?" Ntho responded.

"Just remember who said that before you." The golden elite snickered and cut the comm.

A smoking Longsword flew up at full afterburner towards the rear of the massive Covenant ship. A wall of plasma flak formed in front of Ntho as he flew directly through the clouds of blue, clenching his mandibles in hope that the fighter held together. He looked down at the armament screen. One nuclear tipped Shiva Archer; this one a low-yield tactical nuclear weapon to be used should they have to scuttle the base in failure. Nevertheless, it did not happen and the use of it would be needed on something larger. Ntho was now feeling the slipstream of the repulsor engines as the Longsword sped closer. He looked back toward a rear escape hatch on the craft as He could now clearly see one of the thrusters the ship was heading into.

Quickly, he armed the Shiva and unstrapped himself from the seat, running to a bulk of metal the size of a suitcase he brought with him. He lifted it up, and activated the magnet on the surface of it, sticking it to his back. Pulling out a plasma grenade, Ntho activated it and stuck it to the door where it blew a hole in the hull, vaporizing the door. He ran, jumped and activated his equipment. The jetpack motor roared to life and propelled him away from the Longsword as it flew toward the giant repulsor and disappeared. A flashing light surrounded Ntho. He closed his eyes to save them from being burned away, praying that he made minimum safe distance. He was well beyond that by the time the blinding light surrouned him and it's blast wave following three seconds later.

"Ntho you crazy showboat! We saw that from way up here!" Yali yelled over the comm. More chatter continued.

"Damnit Ntho where'd you learn to do that?" It was Clutch!

"A Spartan Clutch. A Spartan. And, if he were still alive, he'd buy me the bar and not just a drink!" Ntho responded back.

"Eleven, since the first moon is secure, we will need you for the second. Please return to the 'Brothers of Vigilance' for debrief and ready for your next mission on M-1902." Yali once again said over the comm before cutting it off again. It was a pleasant day for him, slaughtering his enemy, while gaining more allied Unggoy at such minimal costs to his fleet.

It was an uneventful ride so far for AJ and Rolo as the their Darter dashed through space with two fighters escorting. The massive battle slowed down now with the Covenant fleet now in remnants in the Athenos system. Nevertheless, there were still two destroyers causing a difficult situation that needed to be captured. Rolo came into the cockpit to check up on his master and friend.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; you're a damn genius Rolo. The thought of combining an power drain with a plasma torpedo and fielding it so effectively.. They oughta make you a fleetmaster if that were even at all possible." AJ complimented Rolo.

The Huragok could only whistle in happiness over the compliment. Perhaps working on weapons of war was more rewarding for him rather than torturesome. While his brethren, advocated peace, he vowed to continue on by the Corporals side, assisting those at war with the necessities, guns and explosives. He was earning praise amongst the crew. Even the marines giving him company were giving him positive gestures, a 'thumbs up' that AJ taught him in the armory when a job was well-done.

AJ suddenly got a sinking feeling inside of him. Something was wrong. A slipspace portal suddenly opened up in front of him revealing a very large ship.

"Covenant Super Destroyer! It jumped right in front of us! Break! BREAK!" The marine frantically yelled in the back. The Darter tipped backward and climbed instantly as plasma fire destroyed the Longsword and Seraph escorting it.

"Fleetmaster, this is Corporal Joseph, a Super Destroyer as jumped into the system to engage our forces." AJ's voice trembled on the comm as the shipmaster heard. The Sangheili knew he needed more firepower for the incredibly large ship.

Suddenly, comms were hijacked and holographic images appeared throughout the ship of very large Jiralhanae. His fur was a dark brown, almost black, three times the size of a Sangheili. Rolo shrieked and hid back in the cargo bay when the hologram lit up in the craft.

"Welcome Separatists. Your time has come for dissolution and extermination. Such a small fleet to bring to such a large war. You have chosen to continue this war with us. We choose now to show you how we deal with the parasites in the galaxy. 'The Wrath of Truth' is commanded by myself, Sallarus, and I shall be the tip of the spear that will plunged into your heart. You shall never be a part of the Great Journey. You shall be swallowed by the pestilence that engulfs you."

The hologram disappeared and comms became a dead silence. AJ knew now who the brute was that terrorized his friend and lead the slaughter of many others of his kind.

"All craft in the fleet, this Fleetmaster 'Kimorum, we have our work cut out for us today. All ships to target 'The Wrath of Truth.' Do not stop firing until every weapon on your ship is exhausted. All landing operations are postponed. The Super Destroyer is top priority."

Flashes surrounded the massive ship as the fleet traded fire with it. Remaining Jiralhanae ships linked up with their large destroyer combining fire and concentrating it on ships. One by one, the Fleet of Liberation suffered losses as the first ship to fall was the 'Ardent Bliss.' The ship began to break apart under the heavy plasma fire and the crew frantically began evacuating. Many races attempted to crowd in the escape pods as they were jettisoned. A lucky hit struck the engine room causing the reactor to achieve critical mass. The Separtist cruiser burst into a light similar to a supernova, destroying the ship and 800 of its crew instantly.

"Fleetmaster, the 'Ardent Bliss' is gone! I cannot deliver this cargo to it." AJ exclaimed on the comm.

"Return to my carrier, Corporal. We will do whatever we can to keep you safe. All fighters, protect the Darter and keep it from falling to the bastard filth. It's contents must be kept save and guarded. Their plasma batteries are critical in resolving this situation." The Fleetmaster ordered as Longsword and Seraphs in the immediate vicinity fought the squadrons of Loyalist fighters turning inbound toward AJ and Rolo.

The 'Archangel's Shadow'just entered orbit from M-1901, its crew witnessing the massive space battle ahead of it. Briggs quickly activated the ships camouflage to remain hidden. 'The Eleven' could only watch in horror as they were too far to participate in the action. Only nine ships remained of the 15 in the fleet. A Covenant destroyer disabled earlier was still struggling to get back online.

Zuka clenched his mandibles in frustration, turning to Clutch, Val and the four Unggoy. "We must do something! The fleet won't last long out there against that battleship."

"There's not much we can do from this distance Zuka, an Archer missile does not have enough fuel to carry a Shiva that distance to strike the 'Wrath of Truth'," Clutch responded.

"Then we have lost the fleet we have sworn to create to stifle oppression." Zuka looked down and walked away in disappointment and sadness.

"It not over yet. So negative is he," Buyap said. "I have idea. Rakrak know too!" The group left the bridge of the UNSC Destroyer and headed into the battle room. Hapip opened up the comm to establish communication between the bridge and the room.

"Alright Buyap, you have our attention. What is wandering through that mind of yours?" Val questioned.

"Hunting Rocks!" Buyap said with joy.

"Hunting Rocks.. Buyap, I don't know whether to chase you down with my energy sword or let the next Jiralhanae we cross do it for me. You make no sense!" Zuka growled.

"No he right," Rakrak backed his Unggoy battle partner up. "We try to hunt ground worms once. They poke their head out of one hole, then hide when we try and hit them with rock. Then, worm stick head out other hole and -" Briggs interrupted.

"He's right; although not exactly, but he is! It's called a 'Shoot'N'Scoot! Hapip, get me slipspace coordinates around that battleship!" Briggs shouted. "If we can't hit 'em with nukes from here, we'll do it from various places. We have to time this right because if we get caught in the blast, we are dead."

"Gladly! This will be fun. Now you see us, now you don't!" Hapip snickered as he pulled a monitor up and began plotting slipspace coordinates. Rookie and Didab headed to the weapons bay to arm the Archers with tactical nuclear warheads.

"Hapip," Briggs said, "Let the Fleetmaster know that 'The Eleven' will show them how to handle such a big ship."

Hapip raised the Fleetmaster on the radio to update him with a strategy on how to defeat the 'Wrath of Truth'.

"Fleetmaster, we have idea to stop super destroyer. Sit back and watch!" Hapip said in excitement over the comm.

"Nice to see someone out there is thinking," Yali said. "Now, show us what you can do about Sallarus' ship. My carrier is down to 25% shields and we just lost another UNSC frigate. If we take their shields down, we will have a chance of knocking it down." The Fleetmaster cut the comm and the hologram disappeared. 'The Eleven' could see small explosions and tracers ahead of them as the fleet struggled to engage the massive ship. Luckily, another Jiralhanae battle cruiser succombed to fire and crashed into the shields of the super destroyer, completely obliterating it.

Briggs turned to Tatak, "Old friend, it's gonna take both of us to steer this sucker clear after firing off the nukes and get us to the next slipspace point."

"Not a problem Captain. We've done this before. We can do it again." Taktak smiled behind his mask as he piloted the ship towards the coordinate set by Hapip. He said a small prayer as the ship lined up for the first jump.

The rest of the crew strapped in on the bridge as Rookie and Didab came back to do the same.

"Warheads ready and loaded!" Didab yelled as he jumped into his seat.

"Here we go..." Tatak said as he activated the slipspace drive.

Flash of light; gone.

**Chapter 11: Bad to Worse**

AJ's Darter barely made it to Yali's assault carrier. As soon as it touched down, he asked the Marines assist him with the cargo of batteries and to take Rolo with them to gun stations while he speak with the Fleetmaster about a plan to bring down the super destroyer.

He arrived at the bridge and was stopped by two Honor Guard Sangheili.

"I must speak with the Fleetmaster, it is urgent." AJ beckoned.

Yali had caught the silhouette of a human rushing towards the bridge out of the corner of his eye.

"Let him pass," he said to his guards. AJ ran to him, gave a quick salute, and began to explain.

"Fleetmaster, as you know, we took down a Loyalist Destroyer not too long ago with a new type of plasma battery my Huragok was working on. I have brought a handful here to this ship which may come in handy on stopping the 'Wrath of Truth'. We need to get those shields down though since they are too strong and will deflect the plasma burst."

"We may have a bigger chance than I thought initially about taking this super destroyer down. Spec Ops team 'Eleven' have entered slipspace, but have a strategy on bringing the sh-" Yali was interrupted when a UNSC destroyer exited slip space on their starboard side a short distance away. The two looked at the ship deploying a missile, charging straight into the shields, only to re-enter slipspace just before the detonation.

Light from the nuclear blast illuminated the bridge as the shields shuttered on the Loyalist super destroyer. The 'Archangel's Shadow' came out yet again from slipspace, this time on the opposite side of the ship, firing another Archer, then re-entering. The result was identical to their first attempt.

"Yes! AJ, once the shields are down, your batteries will be used to scramble the circuits of the ship and disable it." Yalu said.

"What do you want to do with it once it's disabled?" AJ asked.

"Crash it, and destroy Sallarus with his monstrosity," the Fleetmaster growled.

The third strategic maneuver caused the ship to glow yellow suddenly, then spark randomly. 'The Eleven' had done it. The shields dwindled and fell to the tactical nuclear assault. Yali immediately opened a comm up to the plasma battery station that would deliver the finishing blows.

"Are you locked and loaded Major?" Yalu asked.

"Yes Fleetmaster. My men are ready on your order," the Sangheili replied as he looked and nodded at his crew, both human and Sangheili also.

"FIRE! Send them crashing down on Athenos! NOW!" The Fleetmaster yelled.

The front of the assault carrier lit up orange as 6 plasma bursts fired from it at the giant battleship. One burst scored a direct hit on the bridge of the ship, the second and third impacted on the port lobe, and the remaining three hitting just aft of the first plasma impact. The destroyer flickered with yellow lightning bolts, then suddenly grew dark as the ships reactor was destroyed by the pulse from the plasma fire.

Cheers traveled from the bridge of the 'Brothers of Vigilance' to the rest of the ship. The remaining fleet of ten ships and their crew celebrated in joyous victory as the super destroyer leaned on its starboard and began to fall from orbit, heading toward the large planet below it. Separatist fighters would do the same by continuing their destruction of their Loyalist opposition as Longswords and Seraphs continued blasting the brutes out of orbit. Seraphs shot down began crashing into the shieldless 'Wrath of Truth', scoring the hull and tearing open areas of the ship, exposing its corrodors to the vacuum of space.

From a distance, the destroyer disabled earlier in the battle was finally brought back online and began its course to join the remnants of the Fleet of Liberation.

The Fleetmaster sent another communication out to his forces, "Fleet, we are not finished yet. All forces turn and engage the remaining two Covenant destroyers. Board them and wipe out the rest of the crews. Corporal AJ will be dispatched to supply your ships with the new plasma pulse bolt weaponry to power down our enemies. We are going to end this space battle here and now while avenging those who have been lost!"

Chatter rang across the battlenetwork again, this time from the 'Blessed Cleanser' and it's boarding crew.

"Fleetmaster, this is Ultra Vad 'Kuzam onboard the 'Blessed Cleanser'. We are coming to assist you on capturing the remaining fleet ships. We received notification that Fieldmaster Raz 'Wanorum is bringing a newly captured battle cruiser to orbit from M-1901. We will board the destroyer closest to us while the 'Guardian of Truth' takes down the last destroyer."

"Very well Vad. All forces, split and engage the two destroyers. Kill any Jiralhanae onboard and assist any Unggoy in their defection. All Huragok onboard the ships are to be protected at all costs," Yalu relayed his orders to the fleet and reiterated the vitality of the Huragok.

The Darter left again with AJ and Rolo onboard from the carrier, inbound to their next delivery of plasma pulse batteries. The Separatist cruiser, 'Sentinel Peacekeeper' had been damaged but still worthy of continuing the battle. Its compliment of Huragok rushed with repairs inside the ship as it turned to engage one of the destroyers. AJ had arrived in the hangar. He had been given a grand salute by the Sangheili in the hangar who had heard of their new ordnance. They quickly assisted him in unloading the batteries. Rolo even attempted to slide one of the plasma batteries down the ramp to speed up the process despite the size and weight adding difficulty for the little Huragok.

They were off again, heading toward home, the 'Guardian of Truth'. AJ was looking forward to getting back to his post with Rolo and producing more batteries with upgrade weaponry. Rolo's whistling behind him quickly became a wimper as a slipspace rupture next to them brought forth a new ship into the system.

'ONI? What are they doing here?'AJ thought as the Halcyon class cruiser blocked his route to his home ship. Suddenly, a pulling could be felt throughout the small ship as a gravity beam brought them into a hangar, a blast door sealing up behind them. Rolo shrieked and tried to hide behind a few cargo nets in the hold. Ten ODSTs and an officer were standing in front of the ship as the cargo hold door's code was overridden, lowering the ramp. The ODSTs came and restrained Rolo, prying his tenticles off a hand bar and into the custody of the ONI.

AJ ran and shoved one out of the way, "What the f**k are you a**holes doing? Leave it alone!" The butt of a battle rifle met his face with a loud thump. AJ submitted to the darkness in his eyes as he fell to the floor.

"Excellent. Bring the Huragok to interrogation. Put this traitor in our brig and secure him. Their knowledge with technology will be useful in ensuring human dominance in this galaxy for centuries to come."

An officer stood there overseeing the abduction. His officers uniform, covered in an olive drab trench coat. His gray hair and beard gave away his age and his piercing eyes would obviously show the malicious intentions he had in mind.

The black UNSC destroyer's alarm rang as the 'Eleven' came out of slipspace again directly below the ONI cruiser. Ntho stood shocked on the bridge as he began to piece everything together in his mind.

'Why would Dare ask me to watch over the Rookie; and why has he been so quiet?' Ntho turned to Rookie and gave him an eyeful. The Rookie took two steps back, turned and ran through the bridge door and down the corrodor toward the hangar. Ntho, Clutch, Zuka and Val gave chase with Rakrak and Didab behind. The Sangheilis caught up with the Rookie and tackled him, muffling his scream of pain as they held him face down to the floor.

"You're going to tell us what you have been up to with Dare and her spooks, or we are going to make sure you don't just stay quiet for life, but shorten it for you." Clutch groaned at his squadmate as he accused him of treason.

The Sangheilis stood him up as the held his arms. The Rookie motioned to release one of them as his hand reached for the back of his head. He ejected a data chip from his VISR helmet and handed it to Clutch. Escorting him to the small war room on the destroyer, he input it into the interface where a video popped up. It was the Rookie's camera footage and transmissions received from ONI. The Spec Ops team skimmed through them until they came across Veronica Dare's message. Something seemed odd about it, so they let it play.

"ONI TRANSMISSION DOC 540654566135841 JULY 8, 2555

SENDER LT CDR DARE, VERONICA ONI SN#21170465

Lieutenant, we have no choice but to follow Commander Ryken's order. We intercepted radio communications between the Sangheili and Humans in the fleet and need those Engineers. Our lives are both at risk as well as our families if we do not comply with their requests. The Huragok are crucial to the war effort and what they know will help us establish superiority over the Separatists as well as dominate their society.

This was not my call and I am giving you warning right now. The first chance you get when your life is in danger, surrender the information on this chip. There is more than enough evidence to indict Ryken. If he goes down, I'll go down too. Rogues of the ONI set this up from the start. The coordinates of the fleet, patrols over Reach, and most importantly, the ship recovered there. This has been a setup from the start! The Commander has been working with Sallarus. He believes that if we establish a truce with the Jiralhanae, we can stifle the Separatists that once crushed us in the war. I believe he is nuts and playing for the wrong team.

I cannot tell you anymore. I can only request that your team of eleven follow orders for now and wait for the right opportunity to surrender the data. I am sorry and good luck to you. You are the best the good people of ONI have to offer to the United Alliance of Races. Stay strong and be true to the cause. Do not try and find me as I will probably be dead...

/END TRANSMISSION ONI RESTRICTED DATA - CLASSIFIED DOC 540654566135841"

It all made sense now to 'The Eleven.' The Rookie wasn't a traitor, but a victim of a rogue operative. He captured families of those he wanted to turn against the other races, and used them in his own game to possibly start a war against them while they were weak. The Sangheili, the Unggoy, the Huragok, all part of a plan to establish a rule over them. Should Lord Hood and Councilor Ruka hear about this, the ONI would be heavily investigate with its traitors flushed out and executed. It was the only right thing to do. Extremism became rampant in the secret agency and it would take more than the UNSC later to hunt those down selling out the cause.

"Sensors and comm chatter report that a Darter was captured by the cruiser. A Corporal and a Huragok were onboard that worked on weapons in the 'Guardian of Truth'." Zuka told the rest of them as he gathered the info off the battlenetwork.

"We can't just lose them! We must get them!" Hapip said.

"And we will." Val replied and looked at Clutch. "Do you recall the rescue we accomplished back on Rho-271?"

Clutch nodded, "of course!" He then turned to Hapip, "you know about all the ships! Find a soft spot on that cruiser."

Hapip turned and jumped on a terminal. "Halcyon-class cruisers have a thinner hull just before bridge. Right where lounge is! I love it!"

Val and Zuka stood up and walked toward the door.

"Where are you guys going?" Rakrak asked as he stared at the terminal with Hapip. Didab and Tatak looked at them as well. Some crazy idea ran through their heads again that could easily be read from the looks on their faces; it was tried and tested successfully on a previous op.

Zuka turned around, "Getting ready to drop."

**Chapter 12: Crazy, Stupid, but Effective**

Communications throughout the Fleet of Liberation were suddenly interdicted as a human figure began to broadcast.

"Attention Fleet of Liberation. This is Commander Ryken of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Under UNSC EXecutive Order #99017, Operation Freedom Dawn is scrubbed. Please stand down and await boarding by UNSC operatives who will coordinate with your crew to transfer all Huragok onboard our cruiser, 'Clandestine Authority'. Thank you for your compliance. Out."

Yalu sneered at the transmission. He knew something was wrong when he saw the ONI decal on that new cruiser in the sector. He strongly disliked the ONI, but welcomed their spec ops teams for their willingness to work with them and help accomplish missions. Somehow, he already knew 'The Eleven' were not at fault for this. It had been a double-cross.

The Sangheili Major and Communications Officer approached the Fleetmaster.

"Fleetmaster, we cannot submit to this order. Everyone on this carrier knows that something ill will become of this."

"And we won't," Yalu replied. "Instead, communicate to all ships on secure channel to initiate jamming protocols. We are going to disrupt their communications until we find out what's going on. Continue the disabling and capture of those two destroyers. We shall use their guns against the ONI if they blink one eye of hostility at us."

"Yes Fleetmaster." The Major retreated back to the terminal and opened a secure channel to relay the information among the fleet.

Minutes later, news came that both Jiralhanae destroyers were successfully hijacked, despite the lack of the new pulse plasma weaponry to disable them. The ships were heavily damaged, but still functional.

Ryken watched from his bridge with a smirk as the once mighty super destroyer glowed in the atmosphere of Athenos, then smashed into the surface with the force of full yield Shiva nuclear weapon. The blast wave ring spread across ten percent of the surface.

"Such a shame to see Sallarus go. He would have been pleased to have his revenge against a fleetmaster and the fools that follow him." Ryken turns to one of the ODSTs on guard, "Get what you can out of that engineer, then strap a bomb to him and send him on his way."

AJ woke up in a dark room. His head was still hurting from the hit from the rifle. He could hear shrieking and snarling in the room next door, then suddenly beeping. He knew exactly what that was, a suicide bomb. Tears rolled down his face as his anger inside him boiled over, flooding various emotions through his body. He had lost many friends in his past, all the experiences coming back to haunt him at this very moment. He didn't know what to do or how to save Rolo. If he were to perish, he had lost enough friends in his life to want to continue on his own, but would chose to die fighting, just like they did. He looked around the room to find something to break his cuffs loose, but to no success.

The 'Archangel's Shadow' still stood in orbit above the ONI ship. Its active camo still concealing it from the traitors below. It would be only five of them who would go down now and break out the Corporal and his Huragok now. The Unggoy would stay on the ship as they could not fit in the drop pods due to their air tanks. Sangheilis and Humans stood in Spec Ops gear and ODST suits. They were air tight. Expecting to crash through the ship causing a loss of cabin pressure, they took no chances in their own safety. The team hopped into their drop pods.

Briggs grabbed the shoulders of the Rookie for a talk, "look buddy, I know you were conned into this. And I know your loyalty lies with us. You want revenge on those SOBs who have done this? Here's your chance!" He gave him a silenced SMG and a shotgun, "Go get them! If Dare is on there, rescue her and get out of that ship ASAP! Good hunting."

The Rookie nodded, saluted him and ran toward the drop bay where Zuka, Val, Ntho and Clutch were already closing the doors on their pods.

"Didab are the coordinates programmed into our pods?" Zuka asked.

"Ready sir! Go get some!" The Unggoy responded over the radio.

Rakrak activated the deployment system and radioed into the pods' occupants, "Ready drop in 5...4...3...2...1...DROP! WOOHOO!"

Loud bangs were heard inside the bridge as the rocket motors activated, catapulting the pods into orbit at a speed no less than 300 knots in a matter of two seconds. Five pods fell inbound to the cruiser below, the active camo protecting them disappearing as they sped away from the destroyer.

Ryken spit out his brandy when his officer jumped on the comm.

"Incoming drop pods! Location of dispersal unknown! We're going to be boarded! Pods 300 meters! Now 200! Impact in 5 seconds!"

Four loud bangs simultaneusly occurred as the pods smashed into the hull of the cruiser. The Spec Ops within them were protected by a gel absorbent layer and a gravity balancing system, stifling the force of the impacts.

Clutch's pod was the first to smash into lounge followed by Val causing a massive drop in pressurization. The doors blew off and they were deployed into a zero gravity environment.

Zuka and Ntho smashed directly through the bridge, causing the space vacuum to suck out the crew in there and to their deaths. The air tight suits fed plenty of oxygen to them.

The last pod crashed directly into the corrodor and placing the soldier only yards away from AJ. Alarm bells rang throughout the ship as life support systems failed to recover the loss of atmosphere in the sections of the ship breached. The lack of a flight crew caused the cruiser to begin its descent from orbit and down to Athenos.

The atmosphere fell sharply in AJ's room as he grabbed the last few breaths of oxygen available. The door holding him blew open, revealing the Rookie with a spare ODST suit in a case. Fitting him with a temporary mask, AJ quickly changed clothing as the Rookie guarded the door.

Locking his helmet, he pressurized the suit to receive fresh oxygen again. "Thanks for the suit sir! How about something to defend myself?" AJ asked. The Rookie removed the shotgun off his back and gave it to AJ. "Much obliged Corporal! Let's go do some damage!"

The two traveled down the hall to Rolo's holding quarters. The door slid open. Two ODSTs raised their rifles only to be cut down by the Rookie's SMG fire and a 7 round buckshot from AJ's shotgun. Rolo was rolling around in the corner in pain from anaerobic respiration as a last resort for survival.

"Rolo! Hold on, we are going to get you back into a pressurized area!" AJ yelled trying to calm the Huragok. "Corporal, where's the nearest airtight room still?"

The Rookie pointed down the corrodor toward the hangar and headed over to it as AJ and Rolo followed behind. The length of three football fields felt forever. Along the way, ODSTs bounced them but were gunned down by the Rookie. They had finally reached the hangar blast door. Opening it caused some of the oxygen to get sucked into the depressurized area as the three rushed in to close the door behind.

On the bridge, Ntho and Zuka managed to stabilize the cruiser setting the automatic pilot to buy them some time before the ship burned up entering the atmosphere of Athenos.

"Squad, this is Ntho. Ship is stable for now. Proceed on mission. Primary objective is to secure AJ and Rolo per orders of Yalu. Secondary objective, possibly locate additional ONI operative Lt. Cdr. Veronica Dare and escort her off the ship. Engage and kill any and all hostiles on the ship. They are traitors of the ONI and to the human cause. Per treaty of United Alliance of Races, any fundamentalists must be vanguished." The Sangheili commander ordered and groaned, anticipating a serious fight to accomplish the objectives.

The bridge door slid open to reveal four ODSTs who opened fire on the two Sangheili. Ntho and Zuka answered back with fire from their carbines, taking two out with headshots, melting the helmets to their heads. Bullets riddled off of their shields.

"It is a fine day for a fight humans!" Zuka yelled and sprinted towards one of them. After slamming his rifle into the torso of one of the ODSTs, crippling him with pain, the eight foot tall Sangheili lifted him up overhead. The human inside the suit screaming in terror.

"Human what's the matter! Do I have something in my teeth?" Zuka said with humor as he activated his energy dagger. His left arm slammed it right under the chin of the treacherous soldier. With a flick of the wrist, his head separated from his body while the rest of him fell to the floor. Zuka roared in victory. Behind him Ntho pulled out a needler and unloaded the entire magazine on the last ODST blowing him to pieces as a pink dust filled the air, concealing the gore left behind. The two Sangheili looked at eachother, gave a head nod and continued forward to battle more traitors on the way to the rendezvous point.

Clutch and Val were pinned down outside of the lounge fighting several soldiers. Pressure kept on them thanks to one of them using a gatling turret as bullets tore through the wall opposite of them hoping to find a lucky shot.

Clutch got on the comm to the destroyer, "Briggs were pinned down outside our landing spot. How about a little help from my friend huh?"

"Calm down soldier. If you were breast fed you a little longer you wouldn't be so damned jumpy all the time!" Briggs responded back causing the five Unggoy on the bridge to laugh. "Hapip, give 'em a lunar tremor."

Hapip gave a human salute to Briggs and ran a scan on the ship. He located the hostile forces, lined up a shot and fired a 120mm artillery shell at the ONI ship. The Unggoy's accuracy was spot on as the round impacted on the hull directly above the opposing force, knocking them off balance and disorienting them.

Clutch and Val popped out of cover and fired a barrage of plasma bolts and bullets eliminating the group of seven.

"We are clear, thanks for the help and tell your Mom thanks for the nursing!" Clutch cut out.

"You humans still confuse me and always will." Val responded to Clutch's comment shaking his head.

"I'll tell you later right now we-" Clutch was interrupted by a pounding noise on a hatch door just ahead of them. He could hear screaming on the other side of it.

"Get me out of here! I'm trapped in here!" A muffled voice said behind the door as the two Spec Ops rushed to the door. Val opened the door only to find a woman in an ODST suit behind it.

"Get your hands up and get down on the floor human!" Val yelled as he lifted his carbine up at her.

"Stand Down Major! I am Lt. Cdr. Veronica Dare! I was captured by Ryken! He is on this ship and probably in the hangar bay right now trying to escape. I am a friendly!"

"How do we really know, spook?" Val fired back. "You sent us on this mission and set us up!"

"It was part of the plan! One of youR teammates has the data tape of my evidence against Ryken! Your team is crucial for bringing him down! I want his blood just as much as you. Standing here with a gun to my face is not going to give you that."

Val lowered his weapon, "Very well Commander. You will help us then. How many enemies are on here?"

"There is a skeleton crew on this ship. Only seventy-five personnel. Before we go Major, we need to get a bomb diffuser kit. The Huragok brought onboard is now armed with one. There are more on this ship we need to get clear of this place too." Dare warned the two.

Suddenly, comm chatter came in as a Phantom roared within distance of the vessel.

"Val, this is I'lu Verondee and Zulaa 'Vadum. We have intercepted your chatter and felt you needed assistant. we'll extract the remaining Huragok. Get to the Commander's location and dispatch him."

"Excellent brothers! We shall see you after our victory!" Val replied over the comm and cut it.

A shadow coming from the troop bay of a warmed up Pelican caught the attention of AJ as he signaled to the Rookie that they weren't alone in the room. Down the ramp walked Ryken in an air suit and with a strange device in his hand. Looking right at the two ODSTs, he presented it to them.

"Odd piece of machinery isn't it? Reminds me of the history books we read as kids when fanatical Muslims strapped bombs to themselves thinking they would pass onto a better life by killing the innocent. Now do you really think you are the innocent? You are helping a race that has killed us in the past! It makes you no different then those in the history books. One click of the switch, and the three of you will suffer the same fate as the engineer. Drop your weapons and don't think you can pick them up again. If I die, then you do too. The belt is set to explode when my heart stops.

"You have no heart, nor soul either Ryken. Selling us out to an enemy bent on destroying us for a 'Great Journey'. You are a hipocrite, and you will die like one too." AJ snapped back as the two dropped their weapons. Rolo tilted his head downward, knowing that its lifespan has now come to a close.

Ryken quickly unholstered a Magnum, firing around, striking AJ in the chest. Squeezing the trigger quickly again he deliberately shot the Rookie in the leg, causing him to collapse on the ground, groaning in pain.

Rolo witnessed the two who saved it collapse to the ground and shrieked. Something inside it caused a power surge as the bluish tinge of the Huragok transitioned to purple, then a flourescent red. Rolo became angered and went on the offensive. Quickly, the Huragok flew through the air and pounced on Ryken, causing him to lose balance, the detonator and his weapon. THe hefty, bulbous creature on top of him hissed, causing Ryken to shriek in terror. A tentacle raise up in front of the ONI commander's face and charged directly down at it, splitting into several cilia and flooding his orifices.

Ryken screamed in pain and gurgled as he was asphyxiated by the Forerunner creation, lifting up in the air. A massive electric pulse flooded his neural system as his eyes began to glow white and pop out of his head. His screaming stopped as the blood coming out of the orifices boiled. Suddenly, the body now used as a vessel of communication began to speak.

"I am sorry you had to see this. I merely did it because I care for you. It is in my programming that we never harm a being. I could not abide by that rule since it would cause harm to those who are good." The voice of the commander had been altered into the voice of a young boy, possibly to tone down the terror the Huragok may have inflicted in the two ODSTs wounded and observing in shock. "You two have saved me before, and I chose to return the favor. My suicide belt has been disarmed, but can still detonate if removed. I wish I could tell you how you can remove it, but the data held in this being does not provide me with the steps to do so. There are fifteen more of my kind onboard that must be saved. Please help them to salvation and sanctuary in exchange for me." Rolo spoke to the two as AJ began to cough blood from the gunshot wound to his right lung.

The blast doors to the hangar on the opposite side of the ship opened revealing four Spec Ops soldiers and an ODST.

"Huragok! Lower the commander. Thank you for your actions in assisting our forces. We have the ability to diffuse you." Dare commanded Rolo.

"Do not waste your time on me. The ship is beginning to descend from orbit. You must go and rescue the other fifteen on here." Rolo replied through the body.

The Rookie stood up and limped over to the Huragok, grabbing onto the frame surrounding the methane sacks. He shook his head, briefly saying something in few words, "No one is left behind."

Rolo removed the cilia from the body and reformed them back into a bloody tentacle. Whimpering and purring at the Rookie who still offered to grabbed the limb that commited the sin of murder.

Veronica ran over with the diffuser kit escorted by the three Sangheili and Clutch. Zuka ran to the wounded to treat them with biofoam while the four of them began to work on Rolo, using the tools in the kit to get the bomb pack off of the Huragok. Alarms blared again and the ship's AI sounded over the speakers.

"Attention ONI personnel, life support systems and control surfaces failing. Impact on planet Athenos in approximately, five minutes. All personnel evacuate, immediately."

The AI repeated the same dialogue again three two more times as the crew made haste to disarm the bomb. AJ felt his lung inflate again but could still feel the blood in there as he coughed it up under pressure. He got up and struggled toward Rolo. Zuka assisted him in moving faster to his friend.

"Rolo. I am sorry I got you into this. I thank you for your bravery and service to us all. But, you aren't finished yet. You are coming with us alive, and not dead." AJ spoke to Rolo. "I have much for you to do and learn about when we get back. That ship and its insides are a bucket of parts waiting for a mechanic. You and your friends are it. Cheer up soldier and stow it!"

Rolo looked at AJ confused but let out a whistle indicating his dialogue cheered it up slightly. Three of five clasps were released on the belt.

"Almost there, as the fourth clamp was released." Val commented.

"Two minutes till impact," the AI announced over the receiver as screams and footsteps could be heard throughout the ship as the remaining personnel keeping away from the conflict fled toward the escape pods.

"Commander you must make haste with your clasp. We are about to diffuse it," Ntho rushed Dare as she struggled to unlock the last clasp of the suicide pack.

A loud snap was heard followed by three beeps.

"S**t! The clasp broke. The bomb is armed! Get in that Pelican we have thirty seconds. It's a delayed fuse!" Veronica yelled as Val grabbed her and the tentacle of Rolo, scurrying toward the dropship. The bomb pack fell to the floor and slid in the direction opposite to the Pelican.

Zuka carried the Rookie over his shoulder while Ntho and Clutch jumped into the Pelican's cockpit. They were the last two to jump on the ramp as the Pelican lifted off the hangar floor. Suddenly, a large blue flash followed by an explosion occurred. The blast wave pushed the Pelican sideways smashing into the hangar bay's bulkhead. The explosion from the belt had taken out part of the floor, and airlock door revealing the blackness of space. The rear troop hold door sealed in a timely manner, maintaining the oxygen in the cabin. Clutch turned around and looked at his Sangheili co-pilot clad in his dirty, white armor.

"Ntho, blow that f**king door off its hinges and let's get the hell out of here!" Clutch yelled.

Ntho grinned, armed the missiles and fired the entire capacity at the door. The airlock succumbed to the bombardment and blew out into space along with everything in the hangar. The Pelican shot out of the ship with the extra leverage and into the vacuum of space. Behind them, the 'Clandestine Authority' tumbled into the atmosphere glowing red-hot. Fifteen seconds later, a fire explosion sent debris in all directions with a large shockwave. The nuclear reactor powering the cruiser's engines had melted down causing a massive detonation.

A Pelican cleared the explosion just in time, slightly singed by the thermonuclear reaction while a green Phantom floated in distance escaping the same ship earlier.

**Chapter 13: Small Universe**

A hijacked cruiser held its position in orbit over the now occupied moon M-1901 as a Phantom and Pelican traveled toward it from Athenos. The 'Archangel's Shadow' had already docked with it; it would be used as the new command and control ship for 'The Eleven'. Ntho noticed a lot of activity from a distance in the cruiser's hangar. The UAR battlenetwork had transmitted orders to hold position, not under the rogue ONI operative's orders, but under the orders of Lord Hood and Councilor Ruka. The fleet would await reinforcements before attacking M-1902 and Athenos. For now, it was a brief moment of rest before the next battles.

The troop hold was congested with Rolo being in there. The Sangheili bumped arms and elbows only to spatter at each other in vulgar Sangheili words of their language. Rookie snickered as he held his leg as dried biofoam oozed out of the gunshot wound still feeling pain. AJ sat next to Veronica as she worked to stabilize him until they landed. His Huragok never took its eyes off of him, worried about his condition and well-being.

A series of beeps sounded in the Pelican, signaling an incoming transmission. Ntho patched the sender through to the ship as the Phantom next to them did the same.

"Oh my! Saviors! Me so glad to see you're alive! Me Flapyip, former Ultra of Covenant! Now I Captain of 'Faithful Conquest'! Me and Unggoy took ship from brutes on moon while you attack! We did good! Yes we did!" The little Unggoy appeared on the monitor in the cockpit, sitting in a large gravity chair, fit for a shipmaster. Ntho and Clutch would only stare in awe.

"An Unggoy Captain? Have we been sucking space vacuum too long, Ntho?" Clutch asked sarcastically.

"Yes! Me Captain! You Separatist! You come to us!"

"Look Yapflap.."

"Flapyip! Yapflap my brother, and pilot!" The Captain snapped back. AJ looked confused. He never would have thought a mockery of the Unggoy's name was actually the name of his sibling.

"Whatever. Listen we have wounded on here! We need to land now! I'lu and Zulaa next to us have a lot of Huragok onboard that need to be secured. The information held in them is vital to our cause." Clutch replied.

"Yes! You land in hangar! I have best medical team in fleet onboard! Unggoy doctors and Huragok Medics!" The little Unggoy shouted in excitement.

"We here you loud and clear. Out." Ntho responded as they cut the transmission. The indicator beeped again and Ntho patched the next transmission through.

"Pelican, we will follow you to the hangar, AJ are you on there? The network said you were abducted!" I'lu's transmission rang through the troophold. He could not respond as his punctured lung affected his verbal communication, causing pain to talk.

"AJ was hit. He needs to be taken to the infirmary immediately." Dare responded.

"Very well. You land first then. Take care my friend, I will see you soon." I'lu responded and cut the comm.

The Pelican touched down first. A small gathering of Unggoy and Huragok waited to take AJ and the Rookie over to the infirmary for recovery. The rest of crew disembarked and entered a hangar full of activity.

The Phantom landed shortly after, its compliment of Huragok rushing out of the crampness of the troophold, whistling in cheer for their freedom. I'lu and Zulaa walked out side-by-side as they met up with the rest of the Spec Ops Team, seeing two men in ODST gear taken away for medical treatment.

"Commander 'Sraom, I am honored by your presence brother." I'lu greeted Ntho with a texbook Sangheili salute, uptight, and straight since he had never met him prior to seeing him during the engagement on M-1901.

"Minor, at ease. After your engagement with that Brute Chieftain, we should not be using your rank to address you now but something higher. By my witness and my fellow warriors, I shall submit a recommendation for promotion to your shipmaster. Such talent should be commended rather than overlooked," Ntho turned after recieving I'lu's surpised smile and greeted the Sangheili next to him, "Major 'Vadum, what an honor to meet the daughter of the legendary Imperial Admiral." He saluted her.

"The pleasure is mine, Commander. We were blessed by your presence on the moon. Were it not for your team and abilities, our objective to recover the Huragok would have caused more casualties."

I'lu's smile discipated as he noticed an odd aura in his partner. A sense of jealousy grew inside of him as she appeared to flirt with the higher ranking Sangheili. Trying his best to shake it off, he remained a solid presence as the two traded experiences in the battle that day. She made no mention on how he saved her life.

Four Unggoy and a human from the stealthy destroyer that docked earlier observed in the distance the three Sangheili. I'lu's emotion was obvious as he practically wore it on his sleeve.

"I think a lover's quarrel may ensue any minute here," Briggs said to his four Unggoy teammates.

"Me has money on Ntho. Blue Sangheili still newbie but can fight so we saw. Let's make bet that they kill each other!" Buyap said in excitement.

"The hell with that Buyap! You still aren't getting that old shotgun of mine! That thing is as old as the dirt on Earth!" Briggs fired back.

"I will someday old man! You have luck like Kig-Yar in front of a Spartan!" Buyap exclaimed. Briggs groaned and rolled his eyes as they continued looking at the three across the hangar. Briggs muttered under his breath about Buyap's obsession with gambling as the little Unggoy was talking to himself, thinking of ways to hustle more money for his own wealth.

"When is flirting with another Sangheili's mate a good idea?" Rakrak responded as he pulled a beer out of the equipment container unloaded from the destroyer, taking a big gulp from the bottle.

"Eh, it's their funerals," Hapip said, "maybe I get his quarters and turn into methane pit after this!"

One Sangheili turned and walked away as two more continued to share the conversation. One of them was visibly frustrated while the other seemed relaxed.

"She is quite a warrior brother. The Forerunners strongly watch over her," Ntho said to I'lu whose jealousy doubled during the conversation among the three.

"Indeed." I'lu replied in an awkward tone. Before he could open his mandibles to say another word, Ntho looked him right in the eyes.

"I'll see to it that she is your new officer while you see to it she be your paired mate." I'lu stood there in shock as he couldn't believe what Ntho had just said to him as if he had read his mind. "Yes, that is right. I could see it already between you two. Do not worry brother, she is not my type and my spirit is with my deceased wife and the Gods." Ntho walked away towards his group as the rest of the Spec Ops team departed toward the ship's lounge. I'lu looked down at his feet, tilted his back up and walked toward the infirmary, smiling mandibles.

Tatak was trailing his group as Ntho, Zuka and Val were talking amongst themselves about the oddity the ship was controlled by an Unggoy Captain and the captain arguing with his other fellow Unggoy over gambling as always. He felt something brush by him, then a feeling like he was being followed. Tatak continued walking.

"How is it that a ship can be controlled by the minions of the former Covenant? This is certainly unusual." Val said.

"I even recall seeing Sangheili working maintenance with Huragok in the hangar. That is a job strictly for the Unggoy!" Zuka exclaimed.

The eerie feeling from Tatak became truth as a screechy voice responded from behind. "It was until I was promoted!"

The Sangheili turned around facing Tatak who turned around as well with his other three brethren, unholstering their plasma pistols. A disturbance in the air around them became visible as a small figure deactivated his active camouflage.

"Welcome to my ship! I am Flapyip!" The Unggoy was wearing Spec Ops equipment allowing him the ability of cloaking his presence.

"Brother! My long lost brother!" Rakrak exclaimed delighted to see his brother. They greeted eachother with a small dance, possibly related to the Unggoy culture. The Sangheili displayed perplexed looks on their faces as they looked at a small reunion of chattering Unggoy and the unusual captain of the ship.

"Brothers, I thought I had seen it all but the Forerunners decided to surprise us today," Zuka responded in an annoyed tone, "our little friend is related to an Unggoy with a head as big as a prophet."

Flapyip turned and motioned the Sangheili to follow him toward's the officers' quarters in the large ship. Briggs would trail with his Unggoy counterparts behind them.

"Flapyip," Val was about to continue but was interrupted by the Unggoy,

"Call me Shipmaster, Major." Flapyip responded back. Val growled at the thought of having to address an Unggoy as a superior. However, there was something familiar to him about this Unggoy.

"I will call you fodder if you," Val was interrupted yet again; this time it was by Ntho.

"Brother, it is his ship. We are his guests and we are also his allies."

Val sighed and turned to Flapyip, "Yes Shipmaster. My apologies."

"Not necessary! You my friend! I'm your friend! I help you like you help me on High Charity!" The Unggoy responded in excitement.

"What do you mean?" Val asked.

"Brutes attack me first, but I ran off with my brother! Brother got on one Phantom, but I separated when it left too soon. Then Flood attack me and grab on to me. I run around screaming for help. Flood bite hurt me but I no became sick. I saw Sangheili with sword run up to me and pull it off. He strike it down with sword. He tell me to run as more parasites come and I run away toward escaping Phantom. I never got to thank him"

"So you were the one that I saved that day. I remember you. This is a small universe little one," Val replied as the memory suddenly became clear. "I often wondered if you were going to live or die of infection from the parasite. Thank the Forerunners you survived. How did you remember who I was though?"

"It easy! Your temper matches your fighting! Your anger enough can stop parasite," Flapyip responded.

Tensions were quelled to inexistence between the two as the Shipmaster and the savior from his past shared stories while the others in the group listened. Inside the quarters, Flapyip's second brother, Yapflap was waiting for their guests with ample amounts of food for the starving spec ops team who had yet to stop for a meal after heavy combat. The five Unggoy from the team sat close to their two Unggoy hosts, sharing war stories as Clutch and Veronica entered to join the Sangheili and Briggs.

"We just checked up on AJ and the Rookie. They are gonna be fine. AJ will need to undergo surgery though to extract the bullet still stuck in his lung." Dare updated the group. She shifted topics and began to explain ONI's presence in the area. "I want everyone to know here once again that I took no part in the malicious behavior of Ryken. However, ONI has been looking to ensure human superiority over any Separatists. I disagree with this as this will shatter the alliance."

Dare held up the data tape and inserted it into the projector. The holo screen flickered, then revealed an image of the Athenos galaxy the fleet currently was located in conducting operations. Clusters of red appeared on the screen as she explained the holo image.

"Everyone here knows what this is on here. This is your current operation. The Fleet of Liberation is positioned near M-1901 for the first op. Here, you can see the Loyalist fleet attempting intercept, but was crushed by coalition."

"We already know this Commander, why are you showing this to us?" Clutch asked

"I will get to that in a minute Commander," Veronica replied as a window popped up in the projection. Text on it revealed mission orders from ONI, dispatching Ryken's Halcyon cruiser to the area to stifle the mission. The window flickered again, revealing a communique between Ryken and Chieftain Sallarus. It was clear now. One of the ONI leaders had gone rogue, arranging a setup for a sum of money, pillaged from other human colonies by the vicious brutes.

"This was what I was trying to get to Lord Hood and the rest of the Separatists. ONI has sold us out for illegal profit. This is odd, the Earth Government would easily grant funding for ONI's requests, but why do business under the table with an enemy?" Dare said as the rest of the group in the room looked at her.

Suddenly, another window appeared showing a data file. The image revealed a communique directed to Lord Hood:

***ONI USE ONLY** ***HIGHLY CLASSIFIED***

Message Decryption

Date: June 8, 2555 0700 Hours Zulu Earth Time

Recipients:

LORD HOOD

UNITED EARTH GOVERNMENT

Re: SPARTAN-IV PROGRAM AUTHENTICATION, INITIATION OF PROTOCOL: RESURRECTION

############BEGIN TRANSMISSION##########

#######

Fellow Leaders of Earth and the UNSC,

The eradication of the Fleet of Liberation at Athenos was tragic and displeasing. It has become clear that the resurgance of the Covenant is a serious threat to Earth. Our Sangheili allies are useless in assisting to quell the threat. I implore you to reconsider funding the Spartan IV program. In Halsey's absence, I have undertaken the task to continue her work in improving the next generation of military units that will establish superiority not only over our enemies, but our Separatist allies as well.

Due to the disappearance of Grey Team at Onyx and the loss of SPARTAN-II 117, the military is without an active Spartan brigade. The Earth is completely devoid of any Spartans for active defense. ONI is willing to correct this issue. However, there is only one problem: the lack of funding. Under the very real scenario that humanity will be threatened once again after the Loyalists have been defeated, the SPARTAN-IVs will effective in establishing dominance over even the Sangheili and Unggoy. Due to the failure of Operation Freedom Dawn, it is clear that everyone on Earth is aware that our military does not have the capability to stop the Jiralhanae from taking over the star systems once again.

As you are all aware, most of the SPARTAN program activity was situated on Reach. Since UNSC and ONI activity there is now inexistant due to the Covenant, I have stored all recorded data on the program at the ONI Outpost SALVATION located on the planet LANDIS-III. Since we have no funding to begin R&D and prototypes, I trust the unfortunate events and loss of a massive fleet is clear encouragement to begin funding the SPARTAN-IV Program immediately. We believe that the procurement of 700 SPARTAN-IVs will provide the UNSC with the necessary contingency force to stifle any attacks on human colonies and installations. It should also be considered that the Sangheili race CANNOT be trusted. Once the threat of the Jiralhanae has been extinguished, they will once again seek Earth and other human colonies as their targets.

I await your prompt response on this matter. We must initiate the RESURRECTION PROTOCOL or humanity will suffer far more casualties than the First Human Covenant War

Regards,

Commander Jared Ryken II

'Clandestine Authority' ONI Halcyon Class Cruiser

Orbit over LANDIS-III

#######END OF TRANSMISSION#######

"That Son of a Bitch. The UEG knows that the SPARTAN-IV program is crucial will be implemented, but to rush it in order to dominate all species, including the eradication of the Sangheili is sickening," Dare said in disgust.

"How could you not know this? You are ONI and have had your hands all over the Demon programs." Zuka questioned.

"Look, there are even things I don't know about! Ryken's activities were hidden from me just like it was from the fleet. He intended to have this fleet destroyed and even betrayed his own race attempting to do so by having the brutes come to do it for him. The exterminatio of a fleet alone is enough to convince the government to push any military program funding to top priority. Ryken would make billions being the head of it."

"And we will ensure your demons will never get the upper hand on us for as time goes on." Zuka snarled back at Veronica.

"The Spartans are here to protect humanity, not to kill our allies, or you. The purpose of this program pushed by Ryken was all wrong. Should the SPARTAN-IV program be implemented in the absence of Ryken, ONI would ensure that they not be used against the Sangheili and the Unggoy." Dare fired back.

Suddenly the window disappeared back to the map of the Athenos system and the Fleet of Liberation. The red cluster of Sallarus' fleet disappeared, but was immediately replaced by a massive red blur.

"This is not good." Veronica said. A label appeared over the red blur: 'SECOND COVENANT FLEET - 112 Ships, 33,000 PERSONNEL'

A red line emerged from the blur stopping at the blue cluster of ships resembling the Fleet of Liberation. Suddenly, a blue flash, followed by a window. 'FLEET OF LIBERATION DESTROYED. NO SURVIVORS.'

"If that map is showing what I think it is, then Ryken already predicted the fate of this fleet. Sallarus requested a second fleet to eliminate us as a contingency in the event his small fleet were wiped out," Clutch said. "Now here we are, just waiting for the next fleet of Brutes to wipe us clean out of this sector!"

The two Unggoys of the cruiser shrieked in fear as the five the Spec Ops team hissed. The battle to come would be a losing battle for the remaining eleven ships in the fleet.

"We need to send a signal for reinforcements. Our fleet will be dwarfed and eradicated by the onslaught," Ntho said.

"We have idea!" Yapflap shouted. The entire room turned to look at him. "I have Unggoy who can fly a Phantom over to Admiral 'Vadum! He have Fleet of Retribution! Retribution have over hundred ships! Large Fleet!"

"I'm surprised you little guys can even reach the controls," Briggs replied. "Do you have the coordinates of the fleet?"

"Of course! Almost all the Unggoy know where the Fleet is. In case we get tired of Jiralhanae treating us bad. We desert them and seek asylum! We were passed the coordinates by descendants and survivors of the Unggoy Rebellion."

"Brilliant. So why the hell aren't there more of you defecting to us?" Clutch asked.

"Food nipples." Yapflip responded.

Clutch and Briggs looked at eachother. They had known that the Covenant had drugged the Unggoy's food to branwash them in order to maintain their loyalty to the cause. Their numbers would add to the strength of their armies, but they fell in hordes and were used mostly as cannon fodder.

"At least your crew aren't a bunch of mindless fools.." Briggs said as Flapyip and Yapflap both nodded in agreement.

"Commander, how long till the fleet arrives? uNSC is bringing a few ships over to resupply and rearm this cruiser" Clutch asked.

"Not much time. If we need help, we'll need it now. Shipmaster, see if you can find some crew members who will take on the task of delivering the message to the UNSC and Sangheili fleet."

"Me know who to get!" Flipyap jumped off his seat and ran down the corrodor.

Pelicans landed in the hangar of the cruiser, deploying a mixture of UNSC and Sangheili onboard the Unggoy dominated cruiser to lend a hand for the potential battle to come. Huragok recovered from M-1901's operations were integrated into the ship's crew for repairs and system maintenance. All were welcomed by the small aliens as the Marines brought supplies, but some Unggoy were afraid of the Sangheili warriors on board and shrieked. Their tensions calmed as the large beings attempted to establish rapport with their new shipmates, unusual considering the history of abuse the Sangheili bestowed upon the Unggoy during the Human Covenant War. Across the hangar, a Phantom was being prepped for flight as two Unggoy minors walked over to craft accompanied by a Sangheili major. The Unggoy shipmaster ran toward them.

"Sesa 'Yadar! Er, I mean Major 'Yadar! Me glad to see you! I never forget a face!" Flipyap said in a joyous greeting.

The young Sangheili turned and looked surprised. He had numerous visible scars on his limbs and damaged armor. His armor permutation was unusual with a Sangheili Ultra headpiece colored the traditional pearlescant white crown, but with a crimson accent on the facial piece to match the armor of the Major. The helmet belonged to his former commanding officer, killed on Reach, during his first time out in battle.

"Flipyap. It has been a while my friend. I hear and see you now manage quite a ship." Sesa said to the excited Unggoy. He then turned to his two counterparts to introduce them, "These are Minors Bapip and Lulap. They have been my long time companions in battle. We are here to help with the rest of the Sangheili and humans to protect this ship."

"No Sesa, me need you! You and Bapip and Lulap be messengers to fleet!"

"A simple mission; do you believe I am feeble to accept such a meager task?" Sesa appeared to be insulted by his friend's request.

Before Flapyip could respond, he was interrupted.

"Because you're one of the best pilot's out there." A spec ops clad Sangheili spoke. Sesa turned and saluted him and his other two companions.

"Commander 'Sraom. Major 'Sutam and Major 'Mathun. It's an honor to be in the presence of the Eleven." Sesa held the Spec Ops team in high respect and continue to extend the time of his salute as the humans from the team approached with ONI Lt. Commander.

"At ease brother. We both know that you can pilot a Phantom and a Banshee better than anyone in this entire fleet."

"The data tape is to be delivered directly to Admiral 'Vadum where it will Lord Hood. The information is quintessential to the alliance and the survival of this fleet. Sadly some of us in my agency desire the destruction of our new found friendship. We don't have time to waste. The Brute fleet will be here any moment. We are severely outnumbered." Dare said as the Sangheili in the group listened.

"I accept the task. When I return, be sure to save some Jiralhanae for me, I owe it to Ultra Meru 'Vdarai whom they betrayed on Reach. His death will not go unavenged for all these units."

The Sangheili Spec Ops gave their prayers to the major as he and his Unggoy minors turned and ascended up lift, into the Phantom. As the Phantom departed the hangar, alarms suddenly blared throughout the ship. An Unggoy voiced the presence of Jiralhanae cruisers entering the sector.

"Enemies! Five Jiralhanae Cruisers at 30 Units distance from us! They are launching fighters!"

Dare turned and looked at Clutch. "We are out of time! The first ships are arriving from the fleet!"

"Flapyip, get those Banshees airborne and protect that Phantom! We can't lose them or we are screwed!" Clutch demanded.

"Help humans! Sangheili! Help Phantom!" The shipmaster shrieked as those around looked at him.

"You heard the little fella! Let's get them!" An ODST yelled as he ran with a group of Sangheili minors to six Banshees lined up in the hangar.

A human voice broke over the comm next, "Faithful Conquest, this is Seargant Major Lovell onboard the destroyer 'Blessed Cleanser', Ultra 'Kuzam is scrambling Seraphs to cover you. We are closer to you. The fleet's fighters are still at distance and won't be much help right now. Arm your torpedoes and prepare to defend yourselves!"

The six purple Banshees left the hangar darting through space to catch up to the Phantom and escort it to its slipspace point. The crew on the bridge of the battle cruiser looked at each other nervously as the newly launched ships distanced themselves from the bridge's windows.

**Chapter 14: Guardian Angels**

AJ woke up to a Medic Huragok facing him with a translating monitor attached. He looked down to see a large scab over the area that he was shot.

**Greetings human. Your vital signs have been stabilized and your wound is healing nicely. However, I am sorry to indicate we are on alert due to the emerging enemy fleet from slipspace**

AJ jumped off the slab, saw a set of clothes in the corner and scurried to it. The Huragok whistled purred as text appeared on its translator again:

**Sir, I highly recommend you remain in the recovery bay until fully healed.**

"I never really listened to doctors all my life. Doc, do you know where the Huragok is we arrived with?"

**Of course. He is on the bridge.**

"Thanks, see you around!" AJ said as he dressed fast and ran out of the recovery bay, toward the bridge taking note of the alarm tone signaling the imminent attack on the cruiser. Still in pain as he limped toward the gravity lift, he jumped in, dashing upward toward his destination.

A Phantom streaked toward a formation of Jiralhanae fighters as six Banshees screamed behind it. Inside the Phantom, a human voice spoke over the comm as the Sangheili and the two Unggoy listened:

"Messengers, this is Angel flight. We stand no chance against that formation of Seraphs. We will do what we can to cover you to the jump point. Any monkeys get too close, show 'em what you got!"

"Understood human, good hunting and guard us with the assistance of the Gods." Sesa replied.

The Banshees streaked past the Phantom, lighting the afterburners on their repulser engines.

"Angel Leader to group, I count 18 Seraphs heading toward us. arm your plasma cannons. When they get close, fire a fuel rod bolt. That should not only kill their shields, but destroy the Seraph," the human commanded the team. The five Sangheili armed their cannons and charged their fuel rod cannons as they sped toward the enemy squadron.

Cannon fire blared as blue bolts filled the sky. A fuel rod bolt slammed into the shield of a Seraph, penetrating it and disintegrating the ship. A second Banshee in a split second destroyed another one in a massive explosion as it flew through the wreckage. Debris bounced off the hull of the ship as the Sangheili minor inside it turned to engage another one.

"Angel Five you have an two Seraphs on your six, break off your attack and take evasive action!" The human yelled at the minor. Plasma bolts surrounded the space of the Banshee as one struck the rear quarters of the fighter. The minor jinked the controls and the Banshee veered right, perpendicular to its path as one of the Seraphs flew past him. He turned again and fired on the once offending ship, taking down its shields before slamming a fuel rod bolt into it.

"Good shooting Minor!" Angel leader shouted over the comm as Angel Four eliminated the Seraph pursuing the Sangheili. The space battle for a moment looked almost one sided due to the strategies employed by the six Banshees. Four Seraphs slipped past the battle, charging toward the Phantom.

"Ready the turrets Bapip and Lulap. Concentrate all fire on one ship at a time. It will bring their shields down faster." Sesa said to his companions. The Unggoys strapped themselves into their seats and activated the weapon systems. The three ventral turrets sprang to life. Bapip touched the screen in front of him to aim the guns at the closest Seraph.

"Target locked. Me ready to shoot!" Lulap exclaimed.

"FIRE!" The Major yelled.

Pink flashes engulfed the cockpit as the plasma bolts shot in front of the Phantom. The pink explosion in front of the craft signaled a successful, direct hit, downing the Seraph. Bapip quickly locked the next Seraph and Lulap repeated the process. Another fell to the dropship as the body of the Jiralhanae floated in front of the ship and bounced off the front of it.

Plasma fire from the other two Seraphs scorched the port side of the ship. Sesa jerked the controls right as the hefty Phantom broke from its path. The two Unggoy continued to concentrate fire on the two ships.

"Blast! We are off trajectory for the slipspace jump. Hold on! I am going to set us back." Sesa corkscrewed the Phantom causing Lulap and Bapip to feel sick as the ship repositioned itself back on path for the jump. "We are almost there!"

The three could see the Banshees in front of them struggling to stifle the formation of craft. One Banshee was struck by plasma bolts, sheering one of the engines off while another darted across space, its fuselage glowing blue from plasma scoring, but still worthy of combat. The odds were more even this time at six versus six.

The fighters formed in pairs as their enemies did the same. The space became furball as Seraphs and Banshees chased eachother. The Phantom flew into the mix. Inside, the slipspace drive activated, indicating cooridinates were locked.

"Banshees, we have reached the jump point. May the Gods watch over you..." Sesa said over the comm as a bright flash of light appeared in front of the dropship. Suddenly, the Phantom entered the portal as two Seraphs chased it. The slipspace portal closed instantly, severing the forward fuselages of the enemy ships, instantly killing the Brutes inside of them.

Damaged Banshees continued to duel with the Brute Seraphs, scoring successful hits downing two more. Suddenly, the remaining four ships turned away from the fight, retreating back to the fleet.

"Angel Two to squadron, the cowards are fleeing!" A Sangheili Minor balked on the radio.

"I see that. Their guts appeared to have separated from the rest of their ships. Our mission is done; let's get back before we get any closer to those cruisers. These Banshees need some serious TLC after all the work we did," the lead Banshee replied over the comm. The six battered Banshees returned to their home cruiser, savoring their crushing victory over their less experienced adversaries.

A flash of light blinded the pilots of the six fighters suddenly. Fleetmaster Yali saw it at a distance and immediately announced a new presence over the comm, "Slipspace rupture! All forces, a Covenant Frigate has just entered the system next to the 'Faithful Conquest'! Increase speed and protect that ship!"

"We not make it! We not make it!" Flapyip yelled over the comm panicking as Rolo drooped its head down watching out the nearby window.

AJ arrived at the bridge via lift and saw his Huragok assisting the crew with avionics and telemetry. He felt the floor of the ship vibrate as the plasma batteries began firing on the Covenant vessel. Seconds later it stopped as the ship was too close causing splash damage to the Separatist cruiser.

"Shipmaster, they are trying to board us!" AJ yelled catching the attention of the Unggoy.

"Oh no! What we do?" Flapyip yelled as two docking collars attached to the ship.

"We have to defend this ship!" AJ turned and limped to his companion, "Rolo, access the ship's systems. Since there's no AI, see if you can run it and lock those hatches."

The Huragok purred and began accessing the ship's network.

"AGH! Everyone! Protect the doors!" Flapyip yelled over the comm. The Sangheili and Marines in the hangar proceeded toward the closest docking collar to defend the blast door about to be breached. The Covenant frigate had a full compliment of Brutes, the Unggoy and small presence of Sangheili and humans could not protect the ship for long.

The spec ops team regrouped and ran to defend the airlock from the second collar, which attached only a hallway away from the infirmary. It was long with three corrodors merging to it, each with their own wards for the hospital onboard the cruiser. They were too late in arriving as the airlock door opened deploying a war chieftain and his subordinates. Before anymore enemies entered the ship, the airlock door closed with its protective shield activating. Rolo succeeded in blocking the rest of the boarding party from entering, leaving only eleven brutes in the bulkhead battling the Unggoy there. Spikes flooded the hall corrodor, cutting down six Unggoy with plasma pistols. The brutes headed toward the infirmary next.

The infirmary was located in the second corrodor. The Rookie was sitting up on his recovery slab listening to the shrieks of the Unggoy dying and the growls of the Jiralhanae. He limped over for a plasma pistol and his ODST helmet sitting on a table. As the growls grew closer, he pressed himself beside the frame of the door as the small compliment of injured Unggoy in the room shuddered in fear while curling up. He locked his helmet on and overcharged the pistol waiting for the first large silhouette to enter the room.

A Jiralhanae minor entered and began firing his spiker, shooting an Unggoy in the head as it pleaded for Mercy. It was a fatal error as a green plasma bolt struck him. The Brute's shields dropped as an ODST jumped on his back. He growled, spinning around trying to shake off the Rookie. Unsheathing his knife, the Rookie thrust it into the back of the minor's neck, causing him to collapse on the floor dead. Cheers blared through the room as the Unggoy embraced their savior.

At the first corrodor, Zuka, Clutch and Briggs lifted their weapons as more Jiralhanae came around the corner heading toward the infirmary where one minor entered. Screams followed by cheers signaled to them that the enemy fell to the patients inside.

Spikers flew past the three spec ops as four brutes traded fire with them. ZUka succeeded in scoring a direct hit with a needle rifle, wounding a Jiralhanae Minor between the eyes.

"Hah! Mongrel scum!" The Sangheili shouted in victory.

Clutch continued firing his battle rifle at the other, a bodyguard, but the bullets were bouncing off his chest armor. "Damnit! I'm getting no penetration on this one!" More spikes flew toward him and Clutch ducked behind the bulkhead as red hot barbs slammed into the wall where he once positioned himself. Briggs ducked down low by Clutch poked out around the coordor crouching, and fired his shotgun. The buckshot stung the Brute Bodyguard in the unarmored areas of the limbs but he shook off the pain. At the distance the the beast was at, the spray of the shotgun was not effective to take the creature down. The three Jiralhanae returned fire, causing Briggs to dive back.

"Determined little f***er ain't he?" Briggs said to his two teammates. A door opened beside them yards away revealing two Unggoy. Hapip and Didab entered with heavier equipment and clad in metallic-black Ultra armor permutations.

"Welcome to the party! Nice to see you brought your tuxedoes!" Clutch exclaimed to the duo.

"Smart ass!" Hapip replied back as he hoisted a fuel rod gun over his shoulder and activated his personal shields and ran out. "Here's some candy!"

A fuel rod bolt lit the hallway up in a green pigmentation as the Brute Bodyguard and two minors on the receiving end dove for cover, feeling the heat from the bolt flying by impacting the wall at the third corrodor.

Comm chatter sounded with Veronica, Val, Ntho, Rakrak and Tatak trading fire with the Jiralhanae in the far corrodor; "What the hell was that?"

"Our fearless leader here Veronica just missed a bodyguard with his fuel rod gun," Clutch replied back.

"Nice shooting you crazy old bastard!" Briggs shouted at his counterpart.

"Meh! Your mother is a craz-" an explosion interrupted the Unggoy as he was blown back into the corrodor by a brute shot round impacting the wall near him, taking Hapip's shield down. Slightly singed, he got back up and straightened his visor.

"You screw with the bull, you get the horns Hapip," Briggs said snickering.

Suddenly, Didab activates his active camouflage and runs out into the hallway dodging more Brute shot rounds flying past the corrodor the team is hiding behind. The bodyguard had ditched the empty spiker, wielding his powerful weapon aiming for the faintly visible disruption of air coming at him. Didab somersaulted over another round aimed at him with the explosion faintly revealing him. Landing, he continued to sprint toward the Brute meters away from him, spreading his arms outward. Two balls of light illuminated his hands as he began to shout like a suicide Unggoy, "Yayayayayayayayaya!"

Didab jumped again and pressing the plasma grenades onto both of the Jiralhanae's shoulders, completing another somersault, and landing behind him. The armored brute yelled in panic and exploded in a blue flash of light.

"Didab!" Hapip yelled as he and the rest of the team ran out from the corrodor. They could hear coughing behind the smoke and dust. A small figure appeared struggling to bringing himself up with hissing behind him.

"Hapip, get a spare tank and mask from the infirmary! He's alive but he won't last long with out his life support!" Clutch demanded as the Unggoy ran toward the infirmary. Briggs and Zuka ran through the smoke to help his team member. The remaining two Jiralhanae hid before the blast.

"You are one lucky Unggoy. That blast should have sent you back to the Gods," Zuka said to Didab. They carried the now weezing Unggoy to the infirmary where Hapip was waiting with an air tank and the Rookie. The Sangheili returned to the hall to support Briggs in resisting another brute. The Unggoy in the room were still cheering to see one of their fellow species had survived.

Didab attached the mask and began to breath again, "Ugh, my ears are ringing and I just clean my armor."

"The shipmaster will want you to clean that mess up when he finds out!" Hapip exclaimed in perfect English.

Zuka charged forward igniting his energy sword, cutting one of the brutes in half. He roared, feeling blood lust as he vanquished the enemy of the Sangheili as he wielded his needle rifle in the other hand.

"MONGRELS! Come get me!" Zuka yelled as the last Jiralhanae, a Chieftain, stepped out holding a large plasma cannon.

Bolts riddled the air, striking the Sangheili's shields as the masked warrior charged toward the brute. He threw his rifle and stuck his sword out. As his shield fell, he found he had already sliced through the weapon and into the Jiralhanae's chest cavity, killing him instantly.

"Pathetic adversary... Corrodor secure," Zuka said and walked toward the infirmary, picking his needle rifle up and powering off his sword.

The remaining six Jiralhanae put up quite a fight with the spec ops team at the far corrodor. Dare threw her magnum away, exhausted of ammunition and pulled Rakrak's second plasma pistol from his holster to maintain the firepower against their enemies, felling the shielding on one of the bodyguards with an overcharge. Ntho aimed his plasma repeater at the now vulnerable brute and burned him to death.

Opposite of the corrodor, Tatak and Val were flooding the hallway with needles while Ntho backed off to let his gun cool. A foolish minor stepped out and was riddled with needles, detonating. The pink explosion killed another brute in bodyguard armor behind him.

"We got one! No, we got two!" Tatak yelled out over the gunfire.

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. Whines were heard along with the tearing of flesh. Sounds of struggling filled the corrodor and then the corpse of a Jiralhanae Bodyguard in golden armor fell to the ground soaked in blood. The last enemy, a minor ran into the combined fire from opposing doors on the corrodor, killing him with plasma fire and needles. The air moved with blood dripping of what appeared to be blades as the spec ops observed from the door frames, guns drawn.

"What's the matter? Sharqui got your tongues? Err... how does that saying go again... ah hell." The figure uncloaked revealing an Unggoy in metallic black spec ops armor. The pink energy daggers on his wrists deactivated.

"There you go again Buyap, always stealing the damned final kills!" Val snarled, "Showboat Unggoy!"

"Where were you hiding?" Tatak asked.

"I not hiding! I found Huragok in enemy ship. Sensors tell me."

"Then we must get them. That is our primary objective in this operation," Val cut in.

The rest of the team rallied at the now sealed airlock. The Rookie, still limping, joined in ignoring his injuries.

"What's next?" Zuka asked.

"More Huragok; behind this door. We must get!" Buyap responded.

"Shipmaster, have Rolo deactivate and unlock the airlock at the infirmary. Buyap has found Huragok on the opposite side. They are priority in this mission," Ntho responded over the comm to the bridge.

With the comm still on, the Eleven could hear Rolo's chirps and AJ in the background talking to it.

"You guys are crazy going into that frigate on your own, but good luck. Get them back, but remember you can't save all of them on that ship should we have to blast off the collars." AJ announced, then cut off the comm. The shield over the door disappeared and the airlock opened, revealing a long tube ending at a florescent purple light.

"Veronica stay here and guard the door. Hapip give her the fuel rod cannon. If we have company behind us, give 'em a mouthful of green." Clutch said as Hapip handed her his weapon. He took out a needler in replacement and checked to ensure his energy daggers were still charged.

"If any luck, the ones you find should have vital info on the battlenet for the incoming fleet." Dare said, "go get them."

The team ran down the tube and into enemy territory.

The first collar was not secured as quickly as the spec ops team accomplished. Marines, Sangheili and Unggoy were pinned down by a pair of hunters boarding followed by no more than twenty-five Jiralhanae. Red and blue luminescent blood pooled on the ground surrounding twelve dead Unggoy and seven marines.

"AAARRGGGHHH! MONGREL BASTARDS! I WILL TAKE YOU TO JUDGEMENT WITH ME!" A Sangheili Ultra, legless, yelled in pain on the ground firing his plasma repeater before being killed by a barrage of spikes. Two Minor Sangheili were also killed while trying to pull their wounded commanding officer away from the open.

The pair of hunters had succeeded in pushing the defenders back into the hangar while thirteen brutes charged toward the bridge to take the ship. Huragok in the hangar tucked their heads in and floated upward, crowding into corners to avoid getting caught in the conflict.

Two fuel rod bolts crashed into boxes a group of Marines were using as cover, blasting the marines away from it. They recovered and continued firing.

"Hey Sangheili!" An ODST yelled at the minor across from him returning fire with a plasma rifle. The Minor turned to look at him. "There's a rocket launcher in the Pelican! Go get it, I'll cover you!"

The Sangheili Minor sprinted toward the Pelican as the ODST popped out of cover and emptied his assault rifle's magazine, killing a Jiralhanae Bodyguard with numerous headshots. The Hunter next to it fired a fuel rod bolt at the Marine blowing him back onto the floor, with heavy burns.

"AAAGHHH it hurts! AAAARRRRGHHH!" He screamed on the floor in pain as the armor protecting him fused to his skin. A Sangheili Major and Minor dragged him back into cover behind an unflyable Banshee used for parts.

"Ames! Hold on brother! We will get you a medic," I'lu said to him as he clenched his hand. Zulaa, motioned a Medic Huragok to descend to them, but it was too fearful. She couldn't blame it for the battle was very intense.

"I - I can't... when this is over... just remember that we humans do care much for you... no matter what happens..." Ames tilted his head back and closed his eyes. Florescent tears from I'lu and Zulaa ran down their heads dripping off their mandibles as the tilted their heads down at one of their fellow allies who once joined them in battle on M-1901.

Two trails of smoke flew from the Pelican's bay as the projectiles slammed into the paired hunters. The hangar was littered with dead Legkolo worms and armor as the blunt of the boarding party's force was severely diminished. The Minor stepped out loading a second rocket into the weapon; he then aimed it an off-guard War Chieftain with a fuel rod cannon and vaporized him with a direct hit.

"We got the big guys, let's finish the fight!" A Lieutenant yelled as the gold armored zealot next to him fired both his plasma rifles at the brutes directly in front of him. The officer lifted his battle rifle and cut them down after the plasma diminished the shields of the Jiralhanae.

The tide turned quick in quelling the invading party within the hangar. A Huragok floating above witnessed a Jiralhanae attempting to stomp on a Marine who had lost his footing in a melee with the creature. Purring and looking around, he saw a weapons tote still in stasis which brought the idea of saving the human. The purple creature disabled the field and the crate fell on top of the brute with crushing force. The female marine looked up and gave a thumbs up to the odd looking creature above who whistled down at her in acknowledgement.

"Sensors detecting more enemies in the docking collar," a blue-armored Sangheili said while at a terminal. As he picked up his plasma repeater, the eerie sound of screaming repulsor engines drew closer to the hangar. The docking collar, visible through the hangar's atmosphere containment shield collapsed in six consecutive explosions as a Banshees flew by in a line astern formation.

Cheers of joy shouted throughout the hangar from all species with Unggoy jumping up and down as bodies of the failed boarding party poured into orbit.

"Many thanks Angels! You have helped ensure our success in securing this section of the ship!" The Sangheili graciously responded over the comm while touching the terminal screen to access the bridge. Thirteen red dots could be seen along with a small cluster yellow indicating the population was in conflict with the enemies.

The Unggoy on the bridge, although scared, were fighting until they were killed. AJ was using a kiosk for cover with Rolo only popping out to take shots with an assault rifle. The Unggoy crew on the bridge were smart and knew how to lower the shields of the Jiralhanae, hitting them with over-charged bursts of plasma from their pistols. A brute shot round detonated sending five Unggoy minors in separate directions as an Unggoy Ultra stepped out firing two plasma pistols. The Jiralhanae's Bodyguard armor boiled and bonded to his fur, causing a massive amount of scorching pain. The creature fell to the floor as an overcharged plasma round scored a direct hit, instantly melting his head.

Behind the kiosk, Rolo caught glimpse of a beam rifle hidden under a control panel. No Unggoy could wield such a big weapon. Quickly, he removed the latches from it causing the weapon to fall to the ground. His tentacle split and cilia began to cut the metal from the hull of the ship's bridge. In less than a minute, the Huragok created a bipod for the beam rifle. Using both its good and bad tentacles, it slid it over to the Unggoy Shipmaster hiding under the panel only meters away. The Unggoy looked at him and Rolo winked three eyes on the left side of its head.

"Ah tank you!" Flapyip shouted over the gunfire as he sat the beam rifle up on the bipod and aimed for another heavily armed Jiralhanae. The small creature squeezed and held the trigger as a large pink beam left the rifles barrel in the blink of an eye, striking the brute in the chest. The beam continued to heat the armor up, melting it away exposing his chest, then burned right through it. the Unggoy released the trigger and saw the grusome, scorched corpse fall to the floor.

Three brutes were remaining with empty spikers as the Unggoy came out from the areas used as cover on the bridge. They began walking toward the trio in a phalanx type formation, hissing and snarling. The once fearful animals suddenly became cowardly and stepped back toward the bridge door.

AJ stood up pointing his assault rifle at them, "Alright monkeys you have a choice. Drop your guns or have twenty-five pissed off Unggoy eat you for dinner and dessert!"

The Jiralhanae understood the human and dropped their weapons as Unggoy rushed them, pummeling them to the floor hitting the three.

"That enough! Tie them up and take prisoners!" Yapflap shouted as he helped his brother Flapyip up who was shaking from dispatching a Jiralhanae. The battered animals were escorted by thirteen their attackers to the prison cell in the bowels of the cruiser.

**Chapter 15: A Call to Plea**

A Phantom floated toward an all too familiar star system. The red armored Sangheili double-checked that the coordinates of the Fleet of Retribution were correct. He began to have a sinking feeling.

'Why would they be so close to a human colonized planet?' Sesa wondered. At a distance, Harvest still appeared beautiful despite the Covenant's efforts to eradicate the inhabitors of it. Sesa's senses remained true as an ONI Marathon Class cruiser unnoticed appeared on the sensors directly behind them. Warnings blared in the cockpit, scaring the two Unggoy indicating they were about to be fired on.

"Unidentified Phantom, you have entered a UEG controlled area, power down your engines and prepare to be boarded," the voice echoed on the dropship's comm.

"This is Major Sesa 'Yadar of the Fleet of Liberation. I come with an important message and an urgent SOS on behalf of Lt. Commander Veronica Dare of the Office of Naval Intelligence. I am with Unggoy Minors Bapip and Lulap."

"Power down your engines Major, we will bring you in via beam."

The comm was silent as the Phantom slowed to a stop and began to travel in reverse toward the ONI Cruiser 'Darkness Falls'. The dropship was set down in a hangar, where five ODSTs fully armed awaited. Sesa opened the deployment doors and he walked out unarmed with his companions.

"Halt, get down on the ground and get your hands above your head!" One of the ODST squad leaders commanded.

"What is the meaning of this? We were given your coordinates. We were told that this is a sanctuary location for Unggoy defectors as well!" Sesa shouted in confusion. Four ODSTs subdued the three from behind, two pinning the Sangheili down on the ground with his arms restrained behind his back.

"Silence hinge-head! You're under arrest for Aggressive Incursion under UNSC Code 217-12A!" The ODST yelled as Sesa's head was pushed hard into the bulkhead.

"Listen Pet! I did not travel all this way to attack such a large ship with a miniscule vessel. Lt. Cmdr. Dare sent us here!" Sesa spit as he exclaimed in frustration.

"Veronica?" The masked ODST asked, "Stand down team! Lower your weapons!"

The ODSTs restrained their use of force and backed away as the shaken Unggoy stood up with Sesa.

"Why you hurt us? We just look for help..." Bapip said in gloomily.

"Yea, nice yellow hair lady said we come here for help," added Lulap.

The ODST took his helmet off. "I know her all too well! She's my wife! My name is Sgt. Maj. Edward Buck. My team who restrained you are Gunnery Sgt. Taylor Miles, also known as "Dutch", Sgt. Kojo Amu, or "Romeo", Corporal Michael Crespo, "Mickey", and Lance Corporal James Rasmussen "Junior".

The restraining ODSTs removed their helmets, reached their right hands out to greet the aliens and to make amends.

"We were under orders from Commander Ryken to arrest any non-human presence in this system over Harvest and to interrogate them for any information known about the Loyalist Fleet.." Dutch said.

Sesa interrupted, "They're already in the system I just departed from. The Fleet of Liberation has come under attack during Operation Freedom Dawn. It was scrubbed by your Commander shortly before his death."

"Ryken's dead? I never liked that two-faced son of a bitch anyways!" Junior cut the Sangheili off.

"Precisely. This human betrayed our fleet and set us up to cover up a special project as an excuse for the loss of life on both sides of the alliance. Take this data tape. It is Cmdr. Dare's evidence to Lord Hood and and Councilor Ruka of a clandestine intention to dissolve our alliance." Sesa handed Junior the tape as he looked at the two Unggoy seeing hunger on their faces. "My Unggoy are tired and hungry from hijacking our cruiser. They are currently engaged in battle with four brute cruisers. Our fleet will not last against the hundred ship armada. We need reinforcements from the Fleet of Retribution!"

"Hope they like bacon and eggs. We are about to have breakfast here." Buck replied. The Unggoys danced in anxiety as the eight left toward the crew quarters and bridge. They arrived at the mess hall where the Unggoy parted ways with the Sangheili.

"Major we are going to take this data to Admiral Terrence; come with us so we can gather intelligence and reinforce the fleet." Buck said to the Sangheili.

Arriving on the bridge, they were greeted by a middle-aged gentlemen in a white naval officer's suit with salt and pepper hair. Crew manning the bridge stared at the Sangheili on the bridge with the ODSTs.

Sesa saluted the Admiral in a loose, human way taught to him by one of the Marine units he integrated with.

"Admiral, it is an honor. I am Major 'Yadar and come to you out of distress and with a message on behalf of Lt. Cmdr Dare. We have engaged Jiralhanae forces under Operation Freedom Dawn, but have now been ambushed by an incoming armada of one hundred ships. We don't have much time to explain the conflict with a rogue ONI commander, but the Lt. Cmdr's data tape here will elaborate on his plans. We presently only have eleven functional ships in the fleet and are severly outnumbered. Our only hope is to have a transfer of ships from the Fleet of Retribution close in this star system to assist us."

"Hold on Major; it is the choice of Imperial Admiral 'Vadum to authorize this. We gladly will provide you this ship to reinforce the fleet. We are due for relief when a Halcyon-class cruiser arrives. My men will have to forego their R&R for a while, but trying to raise the Imperial Admiral will take some time." In a Southern accent, the admiral reasoned with the Sangheili. Before the ship was renamed due to secrecy of the mission to capture a Huragok, his vessel 'Say My Name' had initially participated in the attempt to capture the Prophet of Regret onboard his capital ship, but a sudden slipspace jump fowled the mission and his team crashed in New Mombasa after a slipspace jump. Veronica had informed him that the Elites at the time wished to ally due to the Great Schism. Ironically, he welcomed the uneasy alliance as any help was good help when the human race was being exterminated.

"Then I will speed up the process myself.." A voice came from a tall shadow on the bridge. He stepped into the light from the planet Harvest to reveal himself and his steel-colored armor.

"Aribiter 'Vadam!" Sesa dropped down to one knee and pressed his right fist against his chest plate. "Brother it is amongst the Gods' honor that I meet you."

"At ease brother. Rtas is a friend of mine and would welcome the opportunity to slaughter Jiralhanae."

"Good. Send a slipspace probe with the message and encrypt the data from the tape to him." Admiral Terrence walked over to the comm as the Arbiter gave the data tape to a Huragok on the bridge.

"Vergil, send this to the Fleet of Retribution and be quick about it." The Arbiter ordered the Huragok as the bulbous creature quickly floated to a room visible through a pain of glass to upload the data into an object resembling a Forerunner Sentinal with compact slipspace drive engine attached to it.

When the Huragok left, a blast door sealed and the room filled with smoke as the craft deployed from the airlock and into orbit, seen from the windows on the bridge's starboard side. In a flash, the probe was gone.

The comm crackled and the Admiral began his speech as their Halcyon cruiser arrived to relieve them of patrol duty,

"Attention crew of the ONI 'Darkness Falls', this is Admiral Terrence. I know everyone onboard here is tired of these catch'n'release ops. Here is our chance to get back in the fight with the Sangheili and mop the floor with brute blood. We haven't seen action since New Mombasa and the hush hush has been getting old here too. I didn't sign up for ONI to keep me in the dark just like all of you. Our objective is to provide cover for an outnumbered fleet while the Imperial Admiral rallies his forces to enforce us. Prepare for battle."

"This is not an exercise! General Quarters! All hands man your battlestations and prepare for slipspace!" The communications officer yelled over the comm.

Cheers on the ship echoed. The two Sangheili on the bridge smiled.

"Forgive me for my curiousity, what brought you here to this ship Arbiter?" Sesa asked.

"A female ONI operative had sent me an encrypted message about an ONI commander who had gone rogue. I arrived on this cruiser after leaving the Fleet of Retribution expecting to cross paths with the traitor when he returned to this system, until you had arrived with news he was vanquished." The crew of the ONI ship cooperated with the Sangheili and offered to help them with open arms. The Arbiter was already reputable among the crew as being the first Sangheili to ever establish a rapport with the humans, even attending the memorial of the many fallen during the Human-Covenant War.

A purring noise grew louder behind him as Sesa turned and placed his hand on the Engineer's head.

"And what of this Huragok?"

"It was entrusted to me by the Lt. Cmdr. prior to her departure on Ryken's ship. She had said It was 'special' and shared much intel about the Loyalist battlenetwork. In my time here, it began to maintain the ship's systems and became an interim AI, downloading an upgraded one used to run a city once. He has shared vital information about the Loyalist's battlenetwork, and is especially keen on system repair."

Thel had walked toward an elevator that was locked with a retinal scanner and motioned Sesa and Vergil to follow him.

"Come brother, there is something I must show you that was brought to my attention when I had arrived."

The Arbiter angled his eye so the scanner could identify him. The elevator doors opened and the three entered where they were then taken down to a room in the bowels of the ship. The doors opened to reveal a hallway in steril white.

"What is this place, Arbiter?" Sesa asked.

"The Office of Naval Intelligence has a laboratory onboard this cruiser. At the request of Lord Hood after the treaty was implemented, I was given what the humans call 'top secret access' to disclose any ONI projects to Lord Hood that involved a potential overthrow of either Sanghelios, or Balaho, breaking the alliance." Thel pressed a button on the access panel next to the door opening it. Inside four large cryogenic tubes could be seen in front of them. Condensation over the glass would conceal the contents of each tube. "It was later brought to my attention about Ryken's secret project to produce another generation of 'Demons'. The team formerly under Dare's supervision had then been given orders to intercept him and, take any information on this project into their custody.."

Vergil floated over to a control panel next to the tubes and began typing. Loud releases of pressure filled the room as the doors on the tubes opened. Inside were four humans, fully armored. Text on the monitor scrolling above the tubes appeared:

###STASIS CANCELLED####

DECOMPRESSING...

...

...

CRYOCHAMBERS DECOMRPESSED

REANIMATION COMPLETED

##SPARTAN-II CLASS ROSTER##

MATTHEW-254

ONI S/N#678951320

FULL NAME: **CLASSIFIED**

ARMOR MARK VI - MJOLNIR

PERMUTATION: STANDARD

PRIMARY COLOR: LO-VISABILITY YELLOW

SECONDARY: LO-VISABILITY YELLOW

SPECIALTY EMPHASIS: INFANTRY - ASSAULT

ELVA-301

ONI S/N#687965130

FULL NAME: **CLASSIFIED**

ARMOR: MARK VI - MJOLNIR

PERMUTATION: RECON

PRIMARY COLOR: OLIVE

SECONDARY: OLIVE

SPECIALTY EMPHASIS: SPECIAL OPERATIONS - RECONAISSANCE

HECTOR-558

ONI S/N#687955190

FULL NAME: **CLASSIFIED**

ARMOR: MARK VI - MJOLNIR

PERMUTATION: EVA

PRIMARY COLOR: BROWN

SECONDARY: BROWN

SPECIALTY EMPHASIS: DEMOLITIONS

ARIA-436

ONI S/N#687995180

FULL NAME: **CLASSIFIED**

ARMOR: MARK VI - MJOLNIR

PERMUTATION: CQC

PRIMARY COLOR: WHITE

SECONDARY: STEEL

SPECIALTY EMPHASIS: CLOSE QUARTER COMBAT

"By the Gods!" Sesa said in utter astonishment, "Demons still exist!"

"Yes brother; Ryken had taken possession of SPARTAN-IIs in an attempt to dissect them to reverse-engineer. The project was called EMERGENCE. The SPARTAN-IVs produced from this program would be used in surgical operations to assassinate politicians within the alliance in order to allow humans to establish dominance rather than balance. At first I thought the departure of 117 meant the extinction of them. The contents of these units had proved me wrong."

"Tools of ONI. Can they be trusted Thel?" Sesa asked as he reached for the energy sword on his leg.

"They do not know of the traitors in the ONI and were frozen shortly after Reach had fell in an effort to conceal the existence of additional SPARTANs from the Covenant under the request of a Dr. Halsey." Thel replied. as he grasped Sesa's arm in causing him to relax it. "They can be trusted. The 'Oracle' and Vergil had upgraded their software to identify the Sangheili and our Unggoy as allies."

"An Oracle..here?" Sesa felt he was bothering the Arbiter with too many questions, yet Thel welcomed them. The two turned around to be met by a brightly polished object floating around with a red light.

"Greetings! I am the collaborator to the SPARTAN-IV Project, formerly the monitor of Installation 05. I am 2401 Penitent Tangent."

"YOU!" Sesa unholstered his energy sword and illuminated it, "You are responsible for the death of my entire battalion on Halo!"

"Unnecessary companion of the Reclaimers! Protocol required my Sentinels to disarm and neutralize any potential threats, releasing the quarantine implemented on Flood lifeforms studied on the installation!" The monitor flew upward, it's bulb turning yellow indicating its fear. Sesa jumped up and swiped at it as Penitent Tangent evaded the attack.

"Sesa! ENOUGH! He is with us!" Thel demanded.

Deactivating his energy sword, Sesa returned it to his leg holster, "I apologize brother. Oracle, forgive me for my actions."

"Not necessary. I am familiar with the emotions of both human and Sangheili species. Your reaction was justified, however please understand that all differences have been resolved since the sterilzation of my installation. Unfortunately, I cannot call it home anymore as the surface is nothing but glass. This is my home now." The monitor replied as Vergil floated over and placed a tentacle on top of the unit, a form of security.

"Now, how do we wake the demons up?" Thel asked.

Movement in the tubes appeared to have answered his question as the first Spartan stepped out of his place of rest. The Sangheili stepped back, hands on their energy swords in th event he were to spring on them.

"Wh-Where am I? What is this?" The yellow armored soldier asked.

"You are safe, onboard the ONI ship 'Darkness Falls' human." The Arbiter replied.

The Spartan sprang toward the two Sangheili ready for combat. Sesa held his left hand out. "Hold human! We are on the same side now!"

He stopped before reaching for the Major's throat, "How can this be? I don't believe it! We were just in a battle killing you...when...an avalanche fell on us..." The Spartan said.

"You and your team were taken unconscious by an ONI Commander who is now deceased. He was deemed a 'renegade' in your terms." Thel replied.

"What year is this, and who are you two split-jaws?"

The two Sangheili looked at eachother. They had not been called a derogatory name since the end of the Human-Covenant War.

"I am Thel 'Vadam. Former Supreme Commander and current Arbiter of the United Sangheili Republic. My counterpart here is Major Sesa 'Yadar. He has come here under orders of the Fleet of Liberation to request a dire need of reinforcements."

"The Fleet of Liberation?" The Spartan asked in confusion. Behind him, his other three teammates were awakening. Turning around, the three Spartans stood in shock next to their cryotubes. It was impossible once to see a Sangheili and Spartan socialize with anything other than a loaded weapon until now.

"Nice to see you sleepyheads finally woke up." The yellow Spartan said, "now, I hate to skip over introductions, but it sounds like we don't have much time."

"You are correct; a Jiralhanae fleet of over one hundred ships is in the system of Athenos where we have currently undertaken Operation Freedom Dawn. We are tasked with eliminating any Covenant Loyalist Forces and free any Huragok and Unggoy who wish to join the United Alliance of Races." Sesa said.

"You're going to have to tell us more later. For the record, I am Matthew. My other teammates here are Elva, Hector, and Aria. Since we are all singing cumbuya now with your race, at least we can have some fun wiping out those monkeys and lizards."

The Spartans shook hands with the Sangheili. The monitor and Huragok observed the group of six.

"Ah, it's nice to see we are all finally getting along!" Pentitent Tangent exclaimed. Vergil purred and whistled in reply.

"Really? Reclaimers want to save our most impressive creatures and friends! Fantastic! I shall help out as best as I can lending a ... hand." The monitor turned left and right as if looking for additional limbs.

The ONI cruiser turned as it prepared to enter slipspace. Crews inside the ship prepared it for war. Combat teams available armed themselves as weapons officers inspected the nuclear arsenal onboard. Breaching ONI policy, the clandestine ship set its course for war.

**Chapter 16: Light at the End of the Tunnel**

A helmet was pried off a dead Unggoy's head. Resting it upon his own, Didab finally found a suitable replacement for his helmet burned up from the plasma explosion. "Now, me just need to paint it!" He said to himself as he clenched a plasma rifle and joined the battle again.

The rest of the team was pushing back a Jiralhanae unit in the hall. Bullets from battle rifles ricocheted off the shields of the brutes until plasma fire dropped them. The enemy behind it would meet his fate with one lucky bullet connecting. Three bodyguards fell to the ground as Clutch, Briggs and Dare knelt down, firing their rifles while the Sangheili stood above sending the barrage of plasma across the hallway.

"I think we scared the crew of this one! Unless the rest of the crew is a bunch of Huragok!" Clutch said.

"You may be right..." Dare replied, "There's something not right here."

An explosion in the background behind the brutes left a large hole in the hull. Plasma fire directed on the backs of the Jiralhanae in the hallway the 'Eleven' were fighting, quickly becoming a crossfire. The brutes were cut down in seconds.

"Hold your fire! Identify yourselves!" Zuka yelled as he tightened the grip on his carbine.

"No shoot! We help! We kill Shipmaster already!" An Unggoy Minor shouted running out from the hole made in the wall.

"Well now that's just perfect, what are we going to do now?" Val slurred his English in frustration.

"Run! This ship jump in two hundred twenty-five unit! Engine overloaded!" The Minor exclaimed as he ran toward the team. No less than thirty-five Unggoy and fifty Huragok followed behind.

"What?" Clutch asked.

"He means we have less than three minutes distance ourselves before we are taken into slipspace with the ship." Ntho responded.

The rebellion had sabotaged the slipspace drive on the Jiralhanae cruiser, setting a slipspace microjump. The spec ops Unggoys shrieked and ran back down the docking collar. The rest of the team followed behind with the newly defected crew of the enemy cruiser.

"How the hell do you explain a bunch of grunts and engineers overpowering brutes?" Briggs asked while they were running.

"Simple, in one word... DISGRUNTLED, no pun intended sir!" Dare replied as they ran back into their ship. Several Unggoy and Huragok followed behind hastily.

"Shipmaster, this is Ntho, the Jiralhanae cruiser is set to jump in two more minutes. We have Huragok that are being transferred with Unggoy defectors." The Sangheili announced over his comm. He could here Flapyip shriek on the other side.

"Oh no! we must go! Me no want to die!" Flapyip yelled over the comm back to Ntho.

"Little friend, we will make it. Don't break dock for another minute." The Sangheili responded as he pulled Unggoy and Huragok through the collar and into the hallway of the Separatist cruiser. The floor rumbled, signaling to the spec ops team that the ship was preparing to break away.

The docking collar became empty. Ntho signaled over the comm to break away as he prepared to shut the airlock. Shrieks caught his attention just before he pressed the button to seal the door. An Unggoy with an injured Huragok were trailing behind slowly. Cracks began to form on the docking collar as it was being flexed and torn from the enemy ship. Alarms blared signaling atmospheric stagnation. Ntho ran down the tube and grabbed the tentacle of the Huragok in one hand, and shoved the Unggoy ahead of him with the other. He was bleeding everywhere from a needle stuck in his chest armor.

"Ntho! Hold on brother!" Val yelled as he grabbed a safety line and ran down the tube.

Briggs grabbed the end of the long line and tied if off on a safety latch in the closest emergency room. "Give me a hand, if that sucker breaks we are going to have to pull all four of them in while fighting the vacuum!" Dare and Clutch grabbed the line and wrapped it around their hands, ready to pull the group back into the ship as they could feel the suction of air toward the open door connecting to the enemy ship. Three Unggoy defectors ran toward the three humans to help reel the escapees back into the ship. The vacuum became more intense, causing Ntho, the wounded Unggoy and Val to lose their footing. The Huragok behind them wrapped its tentacles around the line shrieking in fear of being sucked into space.

"PULL!" Dare yelled as the six used every bit of strength to fight the vacuum. The collar began to bow downard and to the left as the cruiser began to roll away from the enemy ship about to jump. Zuka grabbed the rope, pressing his legs against the wall for maximum leverage and pulled Val in. Once he gained his footing, Val pulled next bringing in the wounded Unggoy and Ntho with only the Huragok left. The docking collar ripped off the ship, exposing the rescuers to full vacuum of space. The Unggoy holding the line struggled to grab onto handles in the emergency room to hold themselves while still maintaining a grip on the rope. Veronica screamed as she pulled as hard as possible, slowly sliding toward the air lock and loosing her footing.

"I got you Huragok!" Val yelled as he pulled the tentacles causing it to shriek in pain. He succeeded in pulling the last of the remaining crew of the Jiralhanae cruiser on board. Ntho, slammed his hand on the switch panel shutting the airlock and restabilizing air pressure in the hospital on the Separatist ship. A split second afterward, a blinding flash of light engulfed the side of the cruiser. All crew covered their faces in an effort to maintain their vision. The Jiralhanae cruiser jumped into slipspace, but the portal closed too fast causing the rear half of the ship to sever and float away with its engines exploding. However, the pulse from the rupture caused the cruiser's shields to lower, rendering the hull vunerable until recharge was completed.

Flapyip sat in his chair, heavily breathing in his mask, relieved he was still alive. He ordered his communications officer for a casualty report. Thirteen humans had died in the battle for the hangar while the Sangheili casualties topped seventeen. Sadly, the six Banshees providing cover for his cruiser were caught in the slipspace portal. He knew chances of survival were slim to none for the small squadron. Closing his eyes, he said a small prayer for those who fell. He received orders from damage control that it will take five minutes to get the shields back online. The Unggoy sat there grinding his teeth, nervous again about keeping his ship still in orbit.

AJ and Rolo departed the bridge to head down to the ship's armory and prepare the Huragok's special plasma cells for use. They were met by a gunnery crew of Unggoy who had little experience with firing the cruiser's batteries in battle. They had to have been the most frightened aliens he had ever seen while in service. AJ had used this to his advantage and began to teach the Unggoy in a crash course version of boot camp for the space battle to come. No way would he want to stay a room full of cowards,

"Attention all you little maggots! Fall in!"

The scared Unggoy began to scramble around.

"I said fall in! Line up in the middle here now!" AJ yelled. Rolo floated upward to begin modifying the plasma cells stored as the Unggoy quickly lined up and stood still.

"All you little chicken s**ts were hiding down here while your men and my men were dying fighting off those crazed apes! Are you worthless or what!" He looked at one of the Unggoy who let out a chirp and took a step back. "Get back in line maggot!" Quickly, the Unggoy resumed his position and stood straight. AJ continued his speech, "Well? Do you think you're worthless? I sure as hell don't! You can't be afraid of dying because we all die someday and we all live forever after! Did you not learn that in the Covenant! Well, you're gonna learn more today! You're gonna learn right here right now before the first round is shot in space at us again that you all are here for the people standing next to you, and your families! I don't care how tall or fat you little grunts are! You're killing machines, you're in the Alliance now! And, you're damn well gonna fight like you're in the damn Alliance! I don't see cowards here! I see a bunch of bad ass little f**kers ready to take on everything from brutes to flood!"

AJ noticed the encouragement growing in the eyes of the Unggoy. His speech was working. Ironically, an alien force who had never understood the military training humans quickly adopted the technique. He continued;

"Now I wanna hear all of you say, I am a bad ass little f**ker! SAY IT!" He yelled.

At the same time all the Unggoy repeated the statement.

"I can't hear you! LOUDER!" He ordered

Their voices carried the entire room in a high pitch, shouting the statement.

"Better! Tighten up that armor and those masks! Man your guns troops! We are gonna kill some monkeys today! Your Gods and My God will be watching over us today!"

Straightening their masks, all Unggoy ran to their stations, preparing the plasma batteries. Thirty minutes later, the second Jiralhanae cruiser came within range and Rolo had completed ten upgrades on plasma cells to use to disable the ships. The Unggoy were rushing to get it loaded as AJ assisted them lifting the cells off the storage shelves.

"Shipmaster, plasma batteries are loaded and ready to fire. On your go!" AJ communicated to the Unggoy leader upstairs.

"Fire at will!" The Unggoy Shipmaster responded. Five Plasma bolts exited the ship directed at the second cruiser of the four ambushing ships, striking the shields with a bright flash. Yellow branches of lightning surrounded the cruiser indicating failure and malfunction in the shielding. In return, plasma bolts erupted from the Jiralhanae ship striking the unshielded hull of the battle cruiser.

A voice crackled on the bridge's comm, "Cruiser 'Faithful Conquest', this is Checkmate 620, we thought you guys could you use a little hand." Seconds later, no less than seventy Longswords, Banshees and Seraphs flew over the allied cruiser. The Shipmaster cheered at the sight of the squadrons of his human and Sangheili friends arrive to support their defense.

"Checkmate leader to Knight and Dodger flights, engage the cruisers and any escort fighters. Go for the ship's engines and disable them. Draw as much fire away from the ship as possible while their shields recharge." The leading Longsword conferenced in the Unggoy on the 'Faithful Conquest', "Shipmaster, Yali's fleet is still another thirty minutes out from your position. We should be able to escort you back to the rally point. Destroyer 'Blessed Cleanser' will provide additional plasma artillery support in five more minutes. Out."

The direction of incoming fire changed, aimed at the smaller ships out to defend the lone Alliance ship as tracers erupted in all directions once the fighters came within range. I'lu and Zulaa were flagged down by Ntho and the rest of the 'Eleven', requesting that they board their small Destroyer. The two rejected for the purpose of maintaining force on the Unggoy ship, but given them four Huragok. Hapip jumped into his co-pilot seat as Briggs prepared the ship.

"Hapip, I have an idea. The cruiser's shields are down, but the 'Archangel's Shadow' is indicating a full charge. If we can have Flapyip turn his ship with ours at the same time we can take most of the hits until their shields recharge." Briggs said to his companion.

"Got it!" Hapip said as he changed channels on the comm, "Shipmaster, hold fire and order ship to reverse course. We use our ship to protect yours. Our shields are charged."

"Understood brother!" Flapyip replied as he signaled to Yapflap to turn the ship in unison with the spec ops destroyer.

"Ready for turn portside in 5...4...3...2...1... TURN!" Hapip yelled over the comm. The two ships broke from their position in orbit with the destroyer. As they turned, the spec ops ship's nose was aimed directly at third Jiralhanae ship in the formation.

"Tatak, prepare an Archer missile for fire! Let's lighten up the tension!" Briggs said to the Unggoy behind him. The little Unggoy pulled up the targeting system on his monitor, touching the screen to lock the trajectory of the Archer.

"Ready!" Tatak said.

"Shoot 'em in the face!" Briggs replied back.

"Suck it monkeys!" Tatak touched the screen's fire button. The flash of the Archer launch temporarily blinded the team on the bridge. The missile streaked past the squadron of allied fighters directly toward the cruiser behind the one they were engaging, which had distanced itself from the action. The missile's tactical nuclear warhead detonated, bringing the shields down, vaporizing the front port side of the ship.

"Monkeys are back in the cage sir!" Tatak said as Briggs and Hapip responded in laughter. Plasma fire began to strike the destroyer, impacting harmlessly against the shields. The plan had worked, saving the vulnerable 'Faithful Conquest'. The Huragok brought on board rushed to recover the shield power lost to deflect the fire from the cruiser.

I'lu and Zulaa carried Ames' body onto the UNSC Pelican in the hangar shedding their tears. He had yet to break the news to his friends. The Marine pilot of the dropship departed the hangar, promising a return with ordnance from the UNSC frigate Yorktown within the fleet. Two Banshees unworthy for combat caught their attention.

"Zulaa, do you think the Huragok can fix those two fighters?" He asked his partner.

"Perhaps, why?" She responded.

"There was a spire on M-1901 I saw when we departed the moon. That spire is linked to the Loyalist Battlenet. If we can access the system, we may be able to scramble systems on those cruisers as well as the incoming fleet."

"A tactful idea! I will get two Huragok to help us out," Zulaa replied. She ran out of the hangar toward the mess hall where the defectors of the cruiser were staying. I'lu looked at her and felt his hearts pounding as she ran. He turned around and picked up a repulsor engine on the ground and proceeded to start assembling the starboard wing on the first damaged fighter.

Two Longswords roared past the heavily damaged cruiser, coil guns continuously firing at a lone Seraph in front of them. The enemy craft's rear fuselage was shredded as it spiraled out of control, crashing into the hull of the cruiser. The Sangheili Ultra piloting one of the Longswords took notice of the Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar onboard getting sucked into space from the hole the Seraph created.

"Admiring the view Kano?" His co-pilot, Lieutenant Fischer asked.

"Of course. It's another fine day for us to vanquish the fundamentalist fools," Kano 'Hnordumee replied.

"You know the last time we did this, it was you and me shooting each other over Earth!"

"As I remember, it ended with you flying a wingless Longsword and wearing life support gear from an ejection," Kano snapped back.

"Yea yea, enjoy your gloating while you still can. Sooner or later, I'll mock-dogfight you when we aren't busy killing apes." Fischer said with a snicker.

Their wingman cut in front of them, barrel rolling as he lit the afterburners of the Longsword and blew a Banshee up, converging head on.

"Crazy humans! Save some for us!" Kano yelled over the comm.

"If you stop your jabbering Tiger 111 you would have noticed he was right on top of you! It's ours for the taking!" Tiger 112 replied, crackling over the radio.

Kano and Fischer sighed at the same time, then lit their afterburners to catch up. The two wingman downed three Banshees, with the last one crashing into the bridge of the cruiser. The Jiralhanae ship rolled toward its port side slowly degrading in orbit falling towards M-1901.

"Does that count?" Fischer asked.

"Screw them. A kill is a kill, and that cruiser is our kill!" Kano laughed in response.

"Checkmate leader to fleet. Only one cruiser remains a threat may I suggest we-" the flight leader was interrupted as a Loyalist ships appeared on his sensors. A massive Loyalist fleet appeared from slipspace with six assault carriers, seven destroyers, seven battleships, thirty-five battle cruisers and twenty-five corvettes.

"-We may have to call for reinforcements faster. Eighty ships just appeared out of nowhere!" The leader cut the comm.

"All ships, this is Fleetmaster Yali 'Kimorum, we are heavily outnumbered, prepare to use all weapons to defend yourselves."

"Sir new contact!" Yali's scanning officer replied over the comm. An ONI Halcyon cruiser appeared.

"Fleet of Liberation, this is the 'Darkness Falls'. We are here to provide reinforcement until the Fleet of Retribution arrives," the ship's admiral said over the crackling comm. The cruiser turned starboard facing the enemy armada, with an allied battle cruiser and spec ops destroyer adjacent to its rear.

Several Archer missiles flew simultaneously from the ONI cruiser and the spec ops destroyer toward the fleet of ships. Plasma fire directed at the barrage downed almost all the missiles, but four had succeeded in finding their targets as the blinding light shrouded the massive fleet. Shockwave rings expanded outward pushing some of the Jiralhanae cruisers offcourse. An assault carrier and two destroyers could be seen falling from orbit, towards M-1901 in pieces. The last Archer impacted on the shields of a Jiralhanae battleship, dropping the protection of the ship.

Kano and Fischer's Longsword darted through the wreckage from the detonations, chasing down a Seraph. Fischer could see his Unggoy navigator and system officers look queasy from the jinking the ship had to make. Their wingman and two green Seraphs had joined the pursuit, following the Seraph back to a Corvette firing at them.

"He's leading us into a trap," Kano said. Suddenly, two allied Seraphs following them flew overhead, charging towards the Corvette and penetrating its shielding. The odd looking aircraft fired multiple fuel rod bursts aimed at the engines of the ship in an effort to disable it.

"Ah! Fine moves by our brethren!" Kano said. Fischer blew the Seraph out of orbit they were pursuing then turned toward a formation of Banshees bearing down on the two Seraphs.

"Jejep get a lock on those three Banshees, they are trying to take out the bombers." Fischer said to the systems officer.

"Lock on Captain! I fire!" Jejep said deploying two missiles. The Banshee was unable to evade them, catching a direct hit as it blew to pieces. One of the wings clipped the second Banshee in the formation causing it to lose control and crash into the hangar bay of the Corvette, "Down and front, Brute!" Jejep yelled while proud of his work. The Unggoy navigating, Kekop, changed the waypoint to regroup with the large formation of ships engaged in a massive furball in front of the Jiralhanae fleet, and to withdraw from the plasma flak they had entered.

**Chapter 17:** **Into the Bowels of Hell**

Yali reviewed the strategic map on the monitor in front of him. With his fleet seconds away from firing and the Eleven collaborating with the new ONI ship on stifling the Jiralhanae offensive, he felt confident that the glimmer of hope would lead to their survival after the day's battle. The casualty report appeared on the monitor showing a loss of only six Longswords and six Banshees. He forwarded the info to the UNSC ships of the fleet via the battlenet.

The UNSC Frigate 'Faded Jade' had transmitted a holographic message to the Fleetmaster.

"Admiral Paulson, what can I do for you?" Yali responded.

"Fleetmaster, we have a solution for that battleship. We received a roster from that ONI cruiser. They report they have SPARTAN-IIs onboard!"

"How can this be? All Demons were either killed or missing!" Yali said in astonishment.

"Don't know Fleetmaster, but ONI has quit a basket of dirty secrets. I am transmitting a mission request to use the SPARTAN force and destroy the Brute battleship from the inside, overload its engines like the infamous Pillar of Autumn which destroyed Alpha Halo," suggested Paulson. "The 'Eleven' are on station as well and would be a valuable reinforcement to this objective. I will contact Fieldmaster Raz 'Wanorum and tell him to ready his units as well onboard the 'Guardian of Truth'. Good l—"

The comm. became static as the frigate was vaporized in an instant from an energy projector sourced from the Jiralhanae Battleship. Yali stood up from his chair in shock, "Admiral!" he yelled, "All ships in the fleet, take evasive action. The battleship is within range! Fire all plasma batteries and Archer missiles when the target is acquired!"

"We heard your transmission Yali, not to worry, we are on top of things already.." a comm announced on his ship.

"Commander 'Sraom! Brother it is good to hear from you!"

"I share the same Fleetmaster. The Spartans are heading toward their drop pods now. My team is ready for deployment." Ntho replied.

"Then we shall take the battle to the inside of their ship rather than vanquishing it from space! All cruisers fire at will on the other ships! Do not engage the battleship and continue evasive maneuvers!" The fleetmaster ordered.

"Fleetmaster this is Checkmate flight, our smaller ships will harass the defenses of the battleship to keep them from blowing the pods out of orbit," the lead Longsword responded over the alliance's battlenet.

Yali's monitor showed the squadrons of Longswords, Seraphs and Banshees turn toward the large enemy vessel, drawing fire away and toward them while the 'Darkness Falls' and 'Archangel's Shadow' maneuvered into position for drop. His fleet was now in range to fire on the Jiralhanae, "All ships fire at will!" He yelled.

"Yali, this is Admiral Dakota onboard UNSC cruiser Silver Arrow, we have some Shiva-tipped Archers here. Tactical bursts - good for those smaller cruisers and destroyers. We can take about ten of them out, that should reduce the amount of plasma flying toward us right now."

"Splendid. Let us show them how human and Sangheili control this sector," Yali replied. The Fleetmaster signed onto the Battlenet and transmitted a message to all the fighters to stay away from the cruisers due to the tactical nuclear weapons. Missiles departed the four remaining UNSC vessels, succeeding in bringing down twelve cruisers and two destroyers. Plasma bolts scored the human ships' armor but without success on rendering hull damage. MAC rounds flew across, striking three Corvettes with two MAC rounds missing their targets.

The 'Blessed Cleanser' had engaged two Corvettes, severely damaging one of the Jiralhanae vessels while degrading the shields of the other. Vad slammed his fist down on his gravity chair as an explosion tore apart the hull on the ill-fated Corvette.

"A fine hit Hep! You and your team will be commended by the Councilor after today! Memeb, steer us toward the damaged Corvette. Dadak throw all power to the forward shields. Adra, set course for the ships stabilizers. RAM THEM!" The Ultra yelled.

The destroyer's engines began to glow blue-hot as the velocity tripled. The vessel crashed directly into Jiralhanae Corvette's lower stabilizer array, ripping it from the hull.

"Victory is ours!" Memeb shouted as the three cheered. They could almost taste the commendations their skeleton crew boarding party would earn for taking down a light warship while engaging another.

Text on the monitor appeared from the Alliance's battlenet. The ONI cruiser and spec ops destroyers were in position over the unshielded battleship. The Sangheili Ultra and his crew of forty all said their prayers over the ship's comm., praying for victory over the large ship as their two neighboring ships only eight miles away prepared for the drop.

Sesa entered the deployment room with a battle rifle attached to his back and two plasma rifles attached to his leg holsters. He had changed his armor to a Hazop permutation in ONI's equipment room. He only wished to have an energy sword, but would need to attain the rank of Ultra for that gift. He watched the SPARTAN-IIs and ODSTs secure their gear in the drop pods. As the monitor overhead showed the team's roster and pod assignment:

####ODST DROP POD ROSTER – REAPER TEAM#####

POD STATUS – GREEN

PODS ACTIVATED FOR OPERATION: 15

PODS AVAILABLE IN LOCK: 30

INVENTORY – FULL

VITAL SIGNS – UNABLE TO CONNECT – CREWS BOARDING

POD 1 - MATTHEW-254 (MCPO – SPARTAN-II)

POD 2 - ELVA-301 (MCPO – SPARTAN-II)

POD 3 – HECTOR-558 (CPO – SPARTAN-II)

POD 4 – ARIA-436 (CPO – SPARTAN-II)

POD 5 – Buck, Edward (Sgt Maj)

POD 6 – Miles, Taylor "Dutch" (Gun Sgt)

POD 7 – Amu, Kojo "Romeo" (Sgt)

POD 8 – Crespo, Michael "Mickey" (Corp)

POD 9 – Rasmussen, James "Junior" (LCorp)

POD 10 – 'Yadar, Sesa (Major – Sangheili)

Buck approached the Major, "Sesa, what are you doing? You are coming with us! We'll need a damn good pilot to get us out of that sh**hole when we self-destruct the sucker!"

Sesa smiled, "Only the best, human. However, I would trade this battle rifle I have for a carbine at the first opportunity."

Veronica interrupted their conversation by contacting Buck privately on his helmet's speaker, "Buck, we'll be down there with you soon. We are getting the Unggoy strapped in. Just be sure you survive that fall. I don't want to be a widow when this all ends. I love you and watch your ass! I'll be home soon darling!"

"That's my girl! I love you too! And give that smelly purple bag with you a big kiss for me" Buck cut the comm.

Under his Hazop assault helmet, Sesa grinned knowing that he was talking to his mate. "Buck, you are looking at the best Sangheili for the job to get you two….er how do you say it… 'love birds' back to the nest!" He rushed to one of the pods. It was very small for him, but he managed to squeeze in and secure the door. His Unggoy counterparts gave him a human salute as they walked over to the petty officer in the control room. Vergil was assisting the ONI officer in preparing the drop. Floating over to the next monitor, the anxious Huragok crashed into Lulap.

"Hey! Watch it big guy!" Lulap said as he got back up only to find Vergil's tentacle wrapped around his right arm assisting him. With a flick of its tentacle, the Huragok saluted the Unggoy as an act of apology. He returned the salute and went to help Bapip upload the coordinates and telemetry into the pods.

Sesa was across from Hector-558 who looked at him and gave him a thumbs up. Sesa gave him a human salute to which the Spartan returned. It was rather ironic that he would be joining a demon on the battlefield he was taught to kill all through his lifetime in Covenant service. These Spartans he meant were not very talkative. Buck had mentioned to him that they are 'all business', to which he did not understand the human slang. The team hit their lock buttons to secure the canopies on their pods. The comm activated as Sesa clenched his mandibles together and listened,

"Boys and girls, this is the Admiral, make sure you put an extra round in their heads. I don't want those SOBs getting back up! Don't expect all of you to survive after crashing through the thickness of that hull but just be sure you do or I will piss on your graves! Once inside, you will rendezvous with Ghost team and proceed to the engine room to overload those reactors. For all of you who heard of them, these are the infamous 'Eleven'. Godspeed and Good Hunting!"

Cheers could be heard from outside the pod as well as the Sangheili's war cry. The petty officer working the controls turned to Bapip, "Okay little fella, you make the call." The Unggoy opened up communication to the drop pods.

"Okay ready in 5… 4…. 3…. 2… 1… Drop!"

The sounds of the air shields slamming shut startled Lulap, who was standing in the middle of the room. Loud hissing sounds filled the area as the pods were ejected. Mickey could be heard screaming in excitement as they ventured downward toward the largest ship the ODSTs have ever seen since New Mombasa.

"Oh my I sure hope we succeed on this difficult endeavor," Penitent Tangent said as he floated through the empty pod bay. Vergil floated over to him and patted the monitor with its tentacle as they looked out the window to see the ten pods and the fine trail of smoke behind them.

Not far away, the UNSC stealth destroyer's crew were preparing for drop ten troops. Hapip observed the roster and equipment on his monitor:

####ODST DROP POD ROSTER – GHOST TEAM#####

POD STATUS – GREEN

PODS ACTIVATED FOR OPERATION: 10

PODS AVAILABLE IN LOCK: 20

INVENTORY – FULL

VITAL SIGNS – EXCELLENT – ##ERROR## – NO CONNECTION W/ PODS 4 AND 5

POD 1 – Dare, Veronica (Lt. Cmdr)

ARMAMENT – Magnum (x2)

Assault Rifle

Fragmentation Grenade (x6)

POD 2 – Val 'Mathun (Lt. Cdr)

ARMAMENT – Plasma Rifle (x2)

Carbine

Energy Sword

Fragmentation Grenade (x3)

Plasma Grenade (x3)

POD 3 – Ntho 'Sraom (Cdr)

ARMAMENT – Plasma Rifle (x2)

Carbine

Energy Sword

Plasma Grenade (x6)

POD 4 - Zuka 'Sutam (Lt. Cdr)

ARMAMENT – Shotgun

Plasma Repeater

Energy Sword (x2)

Plasma Grenade (x2)

POD 5 – Dennis, Avery "Clutch" (Lt. Cmdr)

ARMAMENT – Battle Rifle

Shotgun

SMG (x2)

Fragmentation Grenade (x6)

POD 6 – Rakrak (Ultra)

ARMAMENT – Plasma Pistol (x2)

Fuel Rod Cannon

Fragmentation Grenade (x3)

POD 7 – Tatak (Ultra)

ARMAMENT – Plasma Pistol (x2)

Fuel Rod Cannon

Fragmentation Grenade (x3)

POD 8 – J.D. "Rookie" (Gun Sgt)

ARMAMENT – SMG (Silenced)

Rocket Launcher

Magnum (x2)

Plasma Grenade (x2)

Fragementation Grenade (x2)

POD 9 – Buyap (Ultra)

ARMAMENT – Carbine (Bi-pod variant)

Fuel Rod Cannon

Plasma Pistol (x2)

Fragmentation Grenade (x3)

POD 10 – Didab (Ultra)

ARMAMENT – SMG (Silenced)

Plasma Launcher (Unggoy Variant)

Magnum (x2)

Fragmentation Grenade (x3)

A large Sangheili clad in chrome spec ops armor and a chrome helmet stood next to his pod, signaling to his teammate to rush. The other teammates had already secured themselves "Come on Clutch! We are running behind schedule! You don't want a bunch of amateurs to make us look bad, do you?" Zuka snarled as he jumped into his pod. He turned to see Clutch expressing a human gesture with his hand as he grabbed an extra package of shotgun shells for the operation. "Save that for your mate, whenever you find her," Zuka laughed as he shut the canopy on the drop pod.

"Captain, all personnel are accounted for in the pods," Hapip said to Briggs.

"Fantastic, let 'em go!" he replied.

"Time to fly grunts! 5….4….3….2…."

"You know what, I find it kind of ironic when an Unggoy calls all of us a bunch of gr - AAAAHHHHH" Clutch's sarcastic remark was cut short as the ten pods were released into space. The darkness that was once infinite was interdicted by flashes of plasma and MAC rounds impacting on capital ships doing battle with one another. He looked at his monitor on the right and noticed ten other streaks of light, seconds from merging with the top of the Covenant Battleship's hull.

**Chapter 18: The Rogue and His Gift**

A bluish light illuminated the large landing pad on top of the purple spire signaling two Banshees had landed. The two Sangheili had egressed from their ships and walked toward the entrance to the spire's interior.

"How could we not see this during our overflights?" Zulaa asked.

"I am not sure. However, it is very far away from the Loyalist outposts we attacked on this moon," something caught I'lu's peripheral vision and he pointed to the female major, "look over there. Movement; very large character. It's a brute!" The two crouched and silently pressed their bodies against the purple walls. A voice could be heard shouting out to them with an audible growl.

"You there! Come in! I am not of the factions battling for this moon. You will not find conflict here." Could it be that a brute must have 'missed the memo?' Zulaa and I'lu looked at eachother, perplexed. Their positions were already known and they walked toward the Jiralhanae, clenching their plasma rifles. Two luminescent blue lights brought out his facial features. The large brute was very old. He had used a cane, with finely crafted scroll work. The lights around him floated forward toward the Sangheili who quickly noticed they were Huragok. "Please don't mind them. They are only curious of our new guests."

"How is it that you are not part of the Loyalist faction attempting to exterminate my kind? And, why do you have Huragok in your possession at a location the fleets have not discovered?" I'lu interrogated.

"Simple my new friend; I never believed in the Great Journey. Years ago, the Prophets had attempted to bestow their beliefs upon my clan. When I declined, they murdered my mate and two children. My entire pack fell to them. I had ousted the Prophet of Innocence out of rage and sadness before going into exile. For twenty years I was hunted only to have found salvation on this abandoned platform above the Forerunner artifact beneath me. The Huragok here maintaining the structure under us took me in and protected me, concealing my location and this spire. You see, my friend, this is not just a spire, but a door to an alternate dimension, or slipspace." The grey Jiralhanae sent a wave of shock through them. They could not see it because it did not exist in present time. Only recently was its presence revealed.

"Elder, our intentions were to eliminate any Loyalist here within this structure. My wish was to kill you, but now I understand your strife and your past. Our species have been at war since the Great Schism of 2552. If you are not part of the Covenant, than you are a 'civilian' as our human friends call them," Zulaa said.

"By God, you have united with man?" The shocked Jiralhanae said. "Never would I have believed this were to happen. Man had visited once here but would not settle due to the activity in this system. They did however leave some things behind I took into my possession. I learned their ways through their books and their beliefs that further strayed me away from the religious zealots of the Covenant. Mankind has a loving God, and a forgiving one I discovered."

"You have adopted their religion, Christianity?" I'lu asked in astonishment.

"You are correct. A large book called 'the Bible' appears to have told the story of the beginning of their existence. It is logical and parallel with some of the religious views out there as well with the Sangheili and Jiralhanae, but was lost when the San Shyuum had bestowed upon my people and yours their religious teachings." The Jiralhanae further spoke with great wisdom about his education in the human culture. The two Sangheili continued to listen briefly but had interrupted him. Suddenly, a Huragok wrapped its tentacles around Zulaa, causing I'lu to surge to attention. The floating creature pressed itself up against her and released just as fast as it grabbed her, purring and whistling in those seconds as if it were happy. The Jiralhanae took notice and elaborated, "My little friend appears to like your commanding officer. It is called a hug, a rather affectionate greeting for someone a person is comfortable with. It was something they learned in the numerous human books left behind. They are rather pure creatures. Never seen the war that has plagued our societies, and I believe they are the purest of their kind and ancestors of their descendants today." The Jiralhanae changes subjects, "Forgive my manners, I never introduced myself. I am Daedalus, the last and only forefather of my clan."

"I am Minor I'lu of the United Alliance of Races of the First Integrated Regiment. Next to me is Major Zulaa 'Vadum, daughter of the great Imperial Admiral Rtas 'Vadum and officer of the Thirteenth Faithful Vanguard. Forgive us. We are in a rush to seek a solution to oust the large fleet of Loyalist ships in this sector. Will this spire communicate with the battlenet?"

"I regretfully inform you that it cannot anymore. My Huragok disabled all military transponders and access to battle networks. This is a peaceful building now, and my home as well as theirs." The Jiralhanae replied. He began to hunch over, coughing up blood on the floor as the Huragok pair trilled in concern. They knew he had reached the age where it was time to pass. "Forgive me again, my age and strength signals my time soon to depart this world. You must come with me down under this structure." The three of them stepped on the gravity lift descending downward underground. I'lu and Zulaa never had their question answered prior to stepping on the elevator.

"Elder, we had asked earlier why we have not seen this structure since its inception on the moon and you avoided it. Tell us why," I'lu asked, then turning to look at Zulaa.

"Because this place does not exist," he replied.

"How is that possible? We exist here, and we are here at this very given moment." Zulaa responded.

"No you are not. Observe." The Jiralhanae replied. A bright light surrounded them as well a feeling of brief motion sickness. Zulaa fell to her knees with a case of vertigo.

"What have you done Brute?" I'lu responded concerned as he dropped to comfort Zulaa.

"I have done nothing guests. We are now non-existent to the outside world, for this is a gateway to a special world created your Forerunner Gods."

It all made sense to I'lu now. He had heard from relatives of a Sangheili captured by ONI from the 'Mdama keep once that there were places the humans referred to as 'shield worlds' that didn't exist in this dimension, but rather in another, only accessible through slipspace. These worlds had their own sustinence and atmospheres, making it possible to live for nearly an eternity in the event the universe was destroyed by the parasite. As impossible as it sounded, he understood that this spire could not be seen because it had become part of this slipspace, and whatever was underneath was the source of its vanishing. He then thought about Sanghelios again, and how half of the planet still was in a civil war through cloak and dagger techniques as neighboring keeps fought for dominance in the region.

The gravity left stopped and they were stearing at a large hallway made of mirror-polished stone and metals. It was truly a Forerunner artifact, hidden at an unknown depth below the moon.

"My friends, as you can see there are three orbital bodies in this system close to us. This moon has access to the other two bodies. A form of 'slipspace' transportation; the humans call it teleporting." The Jiralhanae continued to educate them about his home as they walked through the halls. Zulaa could not stop but admire the craftsmanship of the Forerunners in this underground installation. They walked outside of the structure they had entered only to see the ceiling above them did not exist, but rather a beautiful, blue sky with some clouds. Could they really be underground, but still see daylight? Nevertheless, it was paradise. The major became captivated by the animals wandering around; species that existed on Sanghelios as well as Earth, and other worlds' systems she visited with the Covenant once.

Suddenly, the Jiralhanae collapsed. The two Sangheili rushed to help him up. "Elder, are you alright?" Zulaa asked. She never thought she would feel sympathetic for a Jiralhanae. It was irony written all over her.

"I will be soon. I can see my friends bringing me a chair," Daedalus replied as two Huragok sailed towards them with a gravity chair designed by Forerunners. The chair had various amenities and medical contraptions on it. I'lu thought the Huragok had created it for their 'master' to use someday when he became too old. It was in the distance, a large purple horizion had caught his eyes. He squinted to accurately see thousands of floating purple objects.

"By the Gods! Huragok! Thousands of them! How did you find them all?" I'lu demanded.

The Jiralhanae laughed, "I didn't find them. They found me. The war that raged had ended with many of them going into exile out of fear of reprisal and retribution from both sides of the once grand Covenant. Peaceful beings, they are. However, if they could not defend themselves and ran; their home and sanctuary are the very creations of the Forerunners. This world, being the safest one to accept their exile, was chosen to populate here and survive. I have chosen to die here in peace with them. It is my heaven, before heaven."

Zulaa and I'lu helped place the elder Jiralhanae into his chair, strapping him in as the two Huragok towing it hooked him up to the life support systems they created on the device. Daedalus powered up his chair and motioned the two Sangheili to continue walking. The building in the distance grew larger as walked. I'lu looked at the grasslands on his left and the stream where various types of animals gathered. It was the only place he would ever know that was free of suffering in the outside world. Zulaa was equally occupied with the surroundings as she looked to her right and saw forests in the distance and snow. It was an anomaly, a temperate climate in one region when in the immediate distance was snow from a recent storm. His hand brushed Zulaa's causing her to turn and look at him. He wasn't sure if he did it involuntarily or not. He gazed into her eyes and smiled feeling his dual hearts pounding. Daedalus' found himself conversing with only the two Huragok next to him as the Sangheili stopped listening, too involved in each others' gazes.

"Ah yes, you two kids have fallen for the romance and tranquility this world offers have you? Come! There is more to be seen in the temple ahead and the truths you will need to know about this world and the outside!" Daedalus responded extatically.

They had arrived after fifteen minutes. The large doors were polished chrome, spires stood hundreds of feet in the air as blue beams of light streamed from them. The doors had opened outward, inviting them inside. It was cool inside. Their footsteps echoed through the chambers. Huragok and various forerunner machines were seen floating above and through translucent rooms in the walkway ahead. They stopped at another door after strolling through the hallways, which opened downward toward the floor.

"What is this place, Elder?" Zulaa asked as she stared at the walls clad in gold, copper, silver and platinum. There were shelves and monitors, even books and papers. The room was a library of every form of data, from tablet to disk.

"Those before us called it 'the Continuum.' It is where we come to see the past, the present and the future. All our questions and concerns are answered here; life, death, everything. It is a house of knowledge for everything in existence then and now, and also a place of worship. It is written in every language and symbol in existence. There are prayers, prophecies and revelations here that are a gift to those who wish to seek them. Even Forerunners had their religion and a being to follow. They described a special power over all. I know him as God; others may know him as different names. In the universe we may all believe in one form of power ruling all but through different names.

Here, after years of reading and becoming a scholar, I believe that we all worship one thing, whether it is one or many. The universe's powers will always be tied to one, forever. It is noted that humans are inheritors of the Mantle in many scriptures here. It is also noted that they will not be the only ones to carry this wisdom, but rather the species of this world who welcome a commonground, uniting them after many wars. Someday, in the end though, we will all unite in peace everafter in paradise, a kingdom where no hate, nor parasite, nor burden exists. And, so you see my friends. This is why I choose not to believe what others bestow upon the species in existence. We all feel we fight for the right cause, but our methods of resolution are wrong."

I'lu and Zulaa both shared a similar feeling of enlightenment and education inside of them. They knew what they had witnessed may not be accepted by neither Sangheili, nor Human let alone Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanae, or any other species in existence. The Jiralhanae crawled out of his chair toward the center of the room where a box made of marble stood. I'lu immediately noticed it as a coffin, or sarcophagus. The Jiralhanae knew he was dying. He motioned Zulaa to help him assist the elder into his new bed.

Daedelus placed his head back on the pillow to rest. The feeling coarsed through his cells that it was time to ascend from reality. He turned and looked at the Sangheili, "I ask for a favor from you two. Please, choose carefully who you wish to show this too. The key to wisdom comes at a price of understanding and acceptance. The answers you find here may ask you to interfere with time for events to happen faster. It will never happen. A destiny can never be changed. A fate can never be altered. There will be content, sadness, love, hate, lies, and truths. It is the life we all must live. Guard this place and the inheritors of the Mantle. Bestow this gift onto them as I have to you and the Forerunners before us. Someday, we will all unite in Paradise, content after all the hate and suffering has exhausted." The old Jiralhanae began to cough and wheeze. He reached into his robe and pulled out an odd looking object to present to Zulaa and I'lu, "Take this. It is an activation index to power up a ship designed by the forerunners. It will help protect your friends above us struggling against the evil among us…" Daedelus leaned his head back, closed his eyes and exhaled his last breath. The sarcophagus levitated off the ground and moved toward a spot in the wall where it rested flush.

Tears rolled from the eyes of the Sangheili. They could not understand why they were sad over a character of a species they despised. Somehow, they had a new understanding and purpose. Though they existed together still to fight a war, their purpose afterward was to ensure that the wisdom of this world be passed onto those meant to carry its weight. I'lu had forgotten the outside world and became startled,

"Zulaa! We must help our allies and our friends still! We must hurry!"

A voice echoed through the library in Sangheili dialect, "Do not be worried. Do not be rushed. The Sands of Time here wait for you, to return to the outer world you once departed." A Huragok floated toward them, fluent in the dialogue. "We have prepared your entrance back to the moment you last departed. Go now. You will always be welcome to return with those who wish to help acquire the key to establishment of peace and wisdom." Lights on the floor illuminated as the Huragok motioned with its tentacles toward a structure across that appeared to be a hangar for Forerunner ships.

The Sangheili pair sprinted toward the structure, following the illuminated walkway and inside. Darkness impaired their vision from deciphering what was thirty feet in front of them. The room had an industrial smell and was cool. Blue glows began to dimly light the room.

"What is this place?" I'lu asked. Seconds later, the entire room lit revealing multiple, large ships from the Forerunner era. Zulaa stood in awe, admiring the marvels of technology the Covenant had once based their weaponry off of.

"This is your way back to your fleet," the Huragok said. "I am Stalwart and Buoyant. I have been tasked with the maintenance of this vessel and will be your pilot. Though time is frozen, the situation has changed since you had departed into our slipspace world. Two of your friends' ships have been heavily damaged. This ship created by my masters may be able to help resist the onslaught of the enemy armada. Trouble is, I was not created for war."

"Then it is us who will conduct the bombardment on the vermin," I'lu growled and saluted the Huragok.

"Splendid. We are almost prepared for departure. Please board the ship. We will be ready in minutes," Stalwart said and floated towards the bridge window where he began working on the avionics under an access panel.

"Zulaa," I'lu turned and gazed into the red armored Sangheili's eyes, "It is forbidden to have a relationship with a commanding officer, or zealot in our army. But, I cannot hold back the feeling in me since I had first seen you on M-1901. If we fail today, I want to still pledge my affinity for you and cherish the minutes we have spent together before we return to battle."

Zulaa's mandibles opened in surprise. She had resisted a similar feeling before, but things were different now they were alone in a different dimension. Time could wait for them outside, but to share their love together couldn't wait any longer. They had located a room that appeared to be the crew quarters of the once proud forerunners. I'lu took Zulaa's hand, guided her towards the sleeping area where the two consummated their feelings in their once sanctified relationship.


End file.
